The monster within us
by The Awesome Novice Writer
Summary: Liar...Thief...Abuser...Traitor...Murderer...Rapist...Avenger...Rebel...Torturerer...War criminal...Terrorist...Psychopath. We are all monsters.
1. Prologue: Victory

**Random District Viewer's POV**

The games had ended last night when the victor had killed his last opponent. But officially, the games wouldn't be over for another few days as the Capital did the final interview before the Capital officials paraded around the district of the victor like they owned it while filming the victor, their family, their friends, and their lives. I knew the routine, I had seen it before in my district before.

I remembered seeing all those Capital people in their ridiculous clothes and hair and other surgical so called improvements of theirs. They looked almost horrific. Strange, but almost horrific in my opinion. They went around our district like they own the whole thing with even more power then the mayor and head peacekeeper combined. Nobody could really stop them from doing what they wanted to do.

The victor was out of the arena, it should have been over. But no, the Capital had to show the victor the best parts of the game he had participated in. And when I say best parts, I mean the most entertaining parts. And when I say entertaining parts, I mean the deaths, the misery, the achievements, the losses, the sacrifices, the heroics, all that and more. The parts that gained the most attention.

This year there was hardly anything but murders to entertain the Capital folks, a common method they used to tell the story of the games that were either hard to tell or else they had no idea what kind of story to tell, but one that was a fitting one for what they were showing nether the less.

It was the perfect fit for this year if I could say so myself. This year, a fifteen year old boy from District Two had earned the reputation of a heartless monster, just like the majority of District Two tributes entering the arena got. In fact, District Two got labeled monsters before they even entered the arena because of previous games.

But being from District Two wasn't enough to make him famous. Well, more famous then he'd already be for winning the annual Hunger Games. He was famous for his kill count of thirteen tributes, a little more then half the tributes that entered. I don't think there was a kill count that high in the history of the games, and if there was one out there, I can't remember it.

But the kill count niter the less gave him the nickname 'the monster from Two'. A fitting name really, considering that he also slaughtered his own allies. But for a reason though, they tried to kill his district partner before their pack was the only ones left alive. I don't know if that was the turning point of Steel Redstone's insanity, but it was one of the factors I think.

The screen in front of me showed one of Steel Redstone's kills, and as always, the kills were as brutal as ever. But then again, all kills were brutal to begin with.

We continued to watch the screen hanging over the town center to see the re-cap of the five day game in a mere three hour show. They had to show the fights and kills, so that took up about maybe an hour altogether. Another part of the re-cap was the beginning of Steel's adventure.

The reapings were normal for a career like Steel. He volunteered, even though he was fifteen years old. He fought his way through his upper class men and won. He declared his victory like it was the greatest achievement he ever got. He was all smiles and overjoyed to go into the games. Just like any other career.

Since Steel was the victor, they hardly showed any of the other tributes, even though they had lives of their own. They had their own story as well, but they were only focused on the victor, so Steel got plenty of screen time.

Then came his chariot ride. He was spray painted with stone grey paint that was strategically painted to represent stone. Steel and his district partner, Shiva Alder, looked like stone statues to represent either their strength and fame, or their stone quarry trade. Either way it fitted. It didn't get the same response as District One and their jewel encrusted costumes, but they still did better then a lot of the lower districts.

Steel played around in the chariot with Shiva. Both of them kept on flexing their muscles and seemed to have a jolly old time making each other laugh at the poses they did. It was like they were having a compition between each other. Wither it was to make each other laugh or what, I don't know. All I knew was that they both had fun with each other. And the Capital seemed to get a laugh out of it. Hell, it reminded me that they were just kids. Just kids that were forced to play these bloody games.

The Capital loved them for their acts. Just like they loved the rest of the careers for their various reasons.

Then came some of the training. Steel was skilled with his trademark weapon, the sword. He could do things with that sword that I could never do. But not coming from a career district, I could safely say that I could never ever do the things that he, or the other careers, could do. I was never a fighter, but they were. They trained for this. They made careers out of it. That's why their called careers.

Steel was also skilled with machetes and combat knives, not surprising really considering the sword.

Steel scored a nine in his training, and I suspected that much. Most careers scored in the eight to ten range. Though the ones that scored lower always did that on purpose for whatever reason they wanted to. Those were interesting years considering that those careers either ended up alone or with some non-careers.

The next thing to show was his interview. He talked about his relationship back home. He talked about a girl named Holly Dramamine, who was his girlfriend, and a girl named Sophie, who ended up being his daughter. The Capital audience went wild when he told them about his relationship with the caring and beautiful girl that meant the world to him. The Capital eats up romantic shit like that. Though it might have left a sour taste to some who thought of the second rebellion. Katniss Everdeen, the girl who defied the Capital with love.

The Capital went even wilder when they found out about Sophie, and it turned out that Steel volunteered for the both of them. He wanted to get the victor's winnings to support his family. And not just his girlfriend and bastard child, but his entire family too. The Capital really ate that up.

Even though everyone considered District Two a psychopathic district, I could see that Steel Redstone really cared about the people he talked about. The look in his eyes were those of a man that cared. That loved. That was human.

The bloodbath came soon after, and ever so slowly, Steel Redstone began to change. He started to change when he made his first kill. Something changed those kids, even careers, when they killed. Little or big changes they still changed. Noticeable or not.

Steel killed five during the bloodbath, the other careers hardly getting one. It still puzzled me how Steel got so many kills while the rest of the careers got hardly any during that moment. But I didn't think too much on it.

But as the games went on, Steel began to change even more. Steel became increasingly violent as non-careers attacked and tried to kill him. Steel killed them without an ounce of mercy.

Districts One and Four saw him as a threat and decided that they were going to kill both tributes from Two. They tried just that.

I guess that's when Steel finally snapped. His allies sneak attacked his district partner and friend and killed her. Steel, in blind rage, killed his four remaining allies before moving on to slaughter the remaining tributes. And in truth, there wasn't many more after his allied slaughter.

Steel by that time was in no other words but insane. His eyes were that of a cold blooded murderer. He killed anyone in his way. He didn't spare anyone.

Then came his final opponent, Douglas Valstar, a giant District Seven boy who's ability to murder was almost that of a career. Like Steel, his eyes were that of a cold blooded murderer. And like Steel before the games, he was just like anyone of the other tributes, someone that was once normal, just like myself and the next person. But the games changed them both. They were both unstable killers now.

When they finally met each other, they didn't even hesitate to run towards each other and try to murder the one in front of them.

The fight was short and brutal. With Steel ending up with several ax wounds to the chest and back. And Douglas with his head decapitated from his body.

The thing about Steel was, when he won, he didn't really do anything except stare at Douglas's body. He stared at it like he was hypnotized by it. But that only lasted until the last cannon fired. When Douglas's cannon fired, Steel came out of his trance and looked up at the sky as the game announcer called out Steel's name and claimed him the winner of the onehundred and thirty eighth Hunger Games.

And while Steel was smiling to the cameras, I could see that his eyes didn't reflect what he seemed to be feeling. Steel never had the kindest eyes in the world, just like the rest of the careers. But Steel's eyes had hardened through out the games. They were the eyes of a monster. And he more then kind of acted like one.

The re-capping of the games ended with Steel looking up to the sky. The Capital audience cheered for him as the T.V screen faded to darkness. They were happy, Steel was a Capital favorite among the many tributes. Everyone knew that after he had killed his career allies and the Capital sent him an expensive first aid kit that healed him within two days.

Now here was this fifteen year old monster being crowned by President Frost herself. Steel looked happy, he should be happy though, he survived after all.

But thinking about our district victors, I didn't feel too happy for Steel Redstone. Our victors may have physically came home in one piece if they didn't refuse artificial limbs, but they hardly came back in one piece mentally. Some handled it better then others, however their methods were.

The thing was, you enter the games, you never really leave them, even after you came home.

The games change you permanently wither it's noticeable or not.

In short, the games never end for those who participate. Never.


	2. Prologue: Price for fame

***Six Months before the reapings***

**Holly Dramamine's POV**

Don't interfere. Even though I wanted to, I had to keep on telling myself that as I watched from my hiding place, a young boy of fifteen years old savagely fighting four other boys his own age. Each one of the boys that were fighting in front of me were full on careers, all of them physically strong and skilled at fighting. But the skill difference between those five boys were noticeable to me, all of them had injures of some kind on their body, they were all bloody and beat up, but the one boy called Gunner was beating them all.

Gunner was smaller then some of them, weaker then some of them, but he was more skilled at fighting then each one of them, and that's what made the difference in this fight I was watching from a safe distance and secret place that was nothing more then behind a building.

I watched as Gunner brutally beat down three of his classmates until they were unconscious before the fourth attacker started to run away in fright, scared of the disadvantage he was in now that three of his allies were beaten down by a superior fighter.

I didn't want to be seen, by anyone, so I stayed hidden as the tall boy ran past me. His face full of fear as he found out that him and his friends had picked a fight with the wrong person.

"That's right!" Gunner shouted at the bully running away from him "you better run! And you better not say anything about my brother again or you'll be hearing from me again!" Steel. That was why he was fighting those kids in the first place, those kids made fun of Steel, and Gunner didn't like that, so he picked a fight with them. Steel was also the reason I didn't want to be seen, Gunner knew where he was, well, I hoped he did, and when Gunner finds him, I was going to find him as well. Steel could almost never be found outside the victor's village, and when he was found, he couldn't be talked to, for various reasons. Not that I could talk to him at the victor's village anyway, he doesn't allow people in his home to see him, or even talk to him. He's a shut in in that home, and I didn't like it. I could have broken down his door, or broken into his home, but knowing Steel, that probebly wouldn't have been the best idea.

I needed to talk to him, I needed to express my feelings towards him in front of his face to show him how I really feel about him. He wasn't going to disappear off the face of the earth again, I was going to follow Gunner, and find out where Steel was before giving him a piece of my mind, and when that happens, it wasn't going to be pretty. At all. But the situation I was going to talk to him wasn't pretty to start with anyway.

I peeked around the base of the building I was hiding behind to see Gunner spitting out a thick stream of blood from his mouth before he turned around and started heading towards wherever he was going, I just hoped that he'd lead me to wherever Steel was. Gunner was my last hope on finding Steel out in the open. And alone at that. The only time I really saw Steel in the district was when he was surrounded by Capital citizens. When them around, I just can't run up to him and shout my feelings to him, the Capital wouldn't allow that. They didn't even allow me near him. I think they were under orders to keep me away. So it had to be here in the district, alone preferably, I didn't want to create a lot of drama with a crowd around. But if I had to do it in front of a crowd, so be it, its been long enough.

Gunner looked in my direction, but I could see that from the way his eyes were looking at, he wasn't looking at me, he was looking in the distance, probably towards that kid that was running away from him. Gunner's face calmed down a little from the pissed off expression he had been carrying while fighting the other boys before he turned around and started walking away from me.

Now was my chance, I was going to follow him, and not be seen by him. He'd lead me to Steel, and I could finally get a weight off my chest.

I followed Gunner through the district while also trying not to be seen by anyone. Kids were supposed to be at school, adults at work. It was past lunch time, so nobody but peacekeepers, peacekeepers in training, and merchants were supposed to be out in the street. Nobody was jobless and nobody was homeless, so you couldn't make up any excuse about being one of the two. The only people that don't work are the severely injured, and the victors, but even the victors had to do something. A talent as they called it. The Capital demanded that you have a talent to show them. It was stupid in my opinion, you entertain them in the arena, then you have to find a talent to entertain them with outside of hunger games season. Steel's talent was distilling liquor. At first I tired to get him to pick up a new talent, but the items on the list the Capital gave him, he wasn't very good at any of them, and the ability to slaughter people wasn't considered a talent.

I continued to follow Gunner until we got somewhere I didn't expect him to go to, the district cemetery. I was confused. What was he doing here? Was he here to see someone and pay respect? I looked farther up ahead to see that Gunner and I weren't the only ones here, there was another person ahead of us, and Gunner was heading in his direction. Who was that? Was Gunner going over to see him? But what I wondered most of all was, what are they doing here?

Questions filled my head as Gunner walked over to the guy with dirty clothes that looked like they hadn't been washed in a couple of weeks, maybe three. His hair was standing all over the place with what appeared to be grime. This guy was a mess. Didn't he know how to clean himself?

I watched Gunner approach the guy, who looked like he was paying respects to whoever was buried in front of him. Gunner didn't look so comfortable going up to the guy, I could tell from his delayed movements and the slight shake of his body. He was nervous, and that was coming from someone that beat up four kids earlier, some who were bigger and stronger then himself. Who'd scare him like that? That was what I was wondering.

Gunner got within five feet of the stranger before he nervously said

"Hey."

"What the hell do you want!" The stranger shouted angrily before turning around and throwing a fist at Gunner. The blow was fast, and I could see that it had some power behind it. I watched as Gunner just barley dodged the incoming blow, and reacted in fright. Gunner reacting in fright? That was strange, he'd usually show little to no fear towards anyone. This made me really curious about who this was.

"Whoa!" Gunner shouted in surprise as he moved his body out of the way of the fist flying towards him. "It's me big brother! It's just me!" Big brother? What was he? And then I realized who that guy in front of him was, that guy was Steel, his older brother. But was that really Steel? He looked, awful. His normally beach blond hair was messy, and it had changed to a filthy brown and black colour, his skin had a beaten up look on it, and his skin was paler then it was before.

Even though I wanted to do nothing more the shout at Steel right now, seeing him like this made me want to cry. Made me want to run up to him and hug him. What had happened to him during the four months I had last seen him?

As the words went through Steel's head, I saw his eyes soften a little, but only a little. Even from where I was from, I could see the hate, misery, and lonesomeness in those dark green eyes of his. Steel, I'm sorry.

No. No I wasn't sorry you bastard. I hate you, I really do. All those things you've done to us. You deserve this.

Steel lowered his hands from his fighting stance as he looked at his younger brother.

"Sorry," Steel told him apolitically "I thought you were, someone else." Someone else being who Steel? Me? You never want to see me anymore. Your too ashamed to even face me now because of what I found out.

"It's ok," Gunner told him "I understand." Do you Gunner? Do you really?

Steel looked at his brother before asking

"What happened to your face?" Gunner gave out a shrug, like it wasn't anything too bad.

"Some kids were talking lies about you again," he told Steel "I couldn't take it anymore, so I beat them up." At the price of black and blue eyes, split lips, bleeding gums and cuts on your face.

"Like I give a damn about what those fucks think about me anymore." Steel harshly told his brother before raising his right hand and bringing a bottle of clear liquid to his lips. Steel was drinking? When did that happen? Sure Steel made liquor, but he didn't drink it, hell, he didn't even know what the hell the stuff he made tasted like.

"Drinking again!?" Gunner shouted at his brother. Again? How long has this been going on?

"Yeah!" Steel shouted as soon as he was done gulping down his liquid "what about it?" His words were kind of slurred, which told me he had consumed some amount of liquor.

"Your killing yourself with that stuff!"

"Like I ain't already!"

"What the fuck do you think started all this anyway!" Gunner shouted, and before Steel could even open his mouth Gunner answered for him. "You did! Your the one that started all this in the first place! You agreed to everything the Capital threw at you! So stop drinking that goddamned poision and pull yourself back together!" Gunner shouted before grabbing the bottle, ripping it out of Steel's grip, and threw it on the tombstone in front of him. The bottle exploded into thousands of pieces as glass and liquid splattered in every direction.

Before I knew it, I saw a lightning fast fist smash into Gunner's face before he fell down and hit the back of his head on a tombstone behind him with a loud thunk.

"You little-" Steel shouted at him in rage "you know how hard it is to make that!?"

Before I saw the events in front of me take place, I wanted to run up to Steel and give him a piece of my mind, but seeing the events unfold in front of me, I don't think it was a good idea. I wasn't afraid of Steel, but someone intoxicated with alcohol and rage, and someone with the strength and skills of Steel, it was a deadly combination.

"I know your still hurt over what Holly did and said to you!" Gunner shouted at his brother  
"but-" His words were cut short by a sharp kick to the jaw.

"What the fuck do you know about that!" Steel shouted so loudly and so full of anger, that it seemed to scare off every bird in the cemetery. Birds from all over flew up simultaneously as their wings beat as one to get away from the noise that was Steel Redstone.

Steel thrust another kick at Gunner and hit him square in the jaw again. Blood flew out of Gunner's mouth as the boot hit his jaw. Steel reeled his leg back for another kick, but Gunner suddenly kicked him in the knee. I know Steel, and I was surprised to see him fall down like he did, he fell like rolling rocks going down a hill. Steel fell to the ground hard and held his knee like his brother had shattered it. Steel, his body damaged by the effects of his own product, it saddened me to see him like this. The Steel I knew, the Steel I... The Steel before could have taken that kick with little to no effort, but this Steel was on the ground in pain. Steel. You've gotten so far from what you were before.

The two brothers laid on the ground and groaned in pain for what seemed like forever, but I knew that it had only been several minutes, but sitting around doing nothing made time go by slowly. At last I heard Gunner say

"Big brother."

"Yeah?" Steel asked with absolutely no anger in his voice for some reason. It had all, surprisingly, fadded away.

"I'm sorry. About everything." Steel then let out a sigh that sounded like a cross between frustration, and relief.

"I know Gunner, I know. It's just that, I wanted to be a victor my entire life. And I did it, I won the Hunger Games. But now." A pause then came from Steel before he continued. "But now I see the price that victors pay for fame and fortune. I just." Another pause came. You just what Steel? "I just wish I could take it all back." Wish you could take it all back? Why Steel? You won the Hunger Games. Your rich. Your famous. Your loved. Your living the District Two dream. Why would you not what that? And what has happened to you since the last time I saw you three months ago?

"You thinking about that thing that got between Holly and you?" Gunner asked.

"Yeah," Steel said with pain in his voice "and that's only one of them." Prostitution Steel. That's what got between us. And your telling me there's more? Just what are you really doing? Not only did you sell your body to the Capital whores, your also doing other things for them. What are they Steel? How could you do this to me? To Sophie?

"Why do they even want you?" Gunner said with a hint of laughter in his voice "I mean, it's you." Gunner was probably saying that as a joke, but Steel wasn't laughing, in fact, he looked angry at the what his younger brother had said to him. Gunner got the hint and stopped laughing.

"I'm a victor." Steel told him simply. "And there are Capital girls that like bad boys of such."

"Do you even know what some people call you?" Gunner asked wondering if he even knew what some of the people called him during the victory interviews.

"A monster?" Steel asked him. "Yeah, I know that already." Well, that's how some of the tribute families felt about him, I mean, he did kill their kids, and he killed more then half. Thirteen tributes. Steel Redstone A.K.A the monster from District Two. He was more then a killer in the arena, he was a monster, and I won't deny that. But everyone thinks that District Two is filled with people like him. Well, we're not all that bad, it's just our reputation that makes everyone else think we're all psychopaths and cold blooded killers. "Whatever I am, it doesn't seem to make a difference to them." Because they love you for being a victor, for your looks, that's all they love you for?

"Don't you have any say in this?" Gunner asked his brother "I mean, why do you do it? Sell your body to crazy twelve year old fangirls or weird twenty something year old Capital girls? Or worse?" Yeah, my thoughts exactly, why do you do that you bastard!? You love the attention they give you don't you! That's why you went to the Capital so much on those so called meetings. You love those Capital girls more then you love me don't you. More then Sophie as well. Especially Sophie, your own flesh and blood. You choose them over us. Why!? Why them instead of us!?

"Because you'd all be in danger." I heard Steel answer. What? His answer caught me by surprise. In danger?

"What?" Gunner asked as soon as I was finished my thought. Gunner sounded as confused as I did. Did he not know that as well?

"If don't do what they want," Steel explained "I'll be putting everyone in danger. Mom, dad, you, Holly, Sophie, all my friends who remain, they'll all be killed. Or worse." What? Was this why he wouldn't see me? Maybe it wasn't about the fight, maybe the reason he left me so quickly after our fight, was because of this. Oh god, I'm terrible.

"If that's why, why didn't you tell Holly?" I think I know the reason.

"Because they didn't want me to tell." Steel explained "I tried to keep it a secret, but secrets don't last forever." Steel took in a deep breath. "All those trips to the Capital must have set something off." Yeah, those train rides did make me think, but I never thought that you were forced to go.

"Well, when I became victor, they won't ever want me." Gunner told Steel. I knew it was the wrong thing to say to Steel, but Gunner learned it the hard way, because Steel quickly got to his feet, grabbed his brother by the hair, and dragged him over to the tombstone in front of him and smashed his face into the stone. Gunner shouted out in pain before Steel shouted

"Don't you ever talk about being a victor!" Steel shouted angrily at his brother while still holding tightly onto his hair "ever!"

This was normal for Steel, even before the games. Steel had mood swings, one moment he could be happy, another angry, this made him kind of unpredictable.

"But-" Gunner started, but a face full of tombstone silenced his sentence.

"No buts!" Steel shouted at him "You want to end up like me!? Look at me before you answer that question! Look at my current situation! Look at who I lost!"

Gunner was a big kid. Fifteen years old, almost as big as his older brother, and a career. But Steel was sixteen, still the older brother, and a victor. And he was losing his mind. It made me sad seeing him like this. He was acting like a violent animal, he wasn't violent before, but he sure was now. "Don't volunteer! You got that!"

"Yes!" Gunner shouted in fear as blood ran down his face.

"Swear on her grave that you won't!"

"I swear on Shiva Alder's grave that I won't volunteer!" Shiva Alder, she was his friend as well. Shiva had two choices six months ago, volunteer, or die by the hands of her psychotic parents. She choose volunteering. When the final when the final eight came, the District One and Four careers decided to take out Steel and Shiva, they succeeded in killing Shiva, but not Steel.

"Good!" Steel shouted before tossing his brother away from the bloody tombstone. Gunner feel flat on his chest with a groan while holding his face in pain.

Steel, your insane. You need help.

I regret all I've said and thought about you. Now that I know what's been going on and how you've tried to hide it all from us.

I started to stand up, but I heard something that I didn't want to hear, the sounds of car horns honking and the excited cries of Capital citizens. Oh why did they have to show up now? I continued to duck behind my hiding place as I watched our escort, Steel's prep team, and camera crews run up the cemetery towards Steel. They were here for him, to get him ready for the victory tour. "Let's get this over with." I heard Steel say before walking away from his wounded brother.

I watched Steel come closer and closer to my hiding spot, and I didn't dare move in case he saw me. I really wanted to talk to him now, to say how sorry I was to him and that I still loved him. But now wasn't a good time. Not with all those Capital citizens around. "Sorry Gunner, but I had to get my point across to you." I heard him say quietly as he past my hiding spot.

"What was that?" A Capital lady asked.

"Nothing." Steel answered.

Steel got into the red car that was waiting for him, and just like that, he was gone.


	3. Prologue: Monsters don't get happy ends

***Two hours before the reapings*  
Gunner Redstone's POV **

Well, guess I'm the only person up for the job. I thought that as I walked towards big brother's victory home. Like always, nobody could get him out of that house, they phoned that house, they had peacekeepers and the district mentors try to get him out of there, but they couldn't convince him to get out. I knew that the peacekeepers and the mentors would have liked nothing more then to break down the door and drag big brother out of his house, but there was a limit on what they could do, even though they were peacekeepers and Hunger Games victors, there were still limitations on their powers. The Capital wanted big brother to come in a democratic fashion, not show up being dragged by peacekeepers and mentors.

Their loss, they have no idea how hard it is to get big brother anywhere without using force. Last time I talked to him, he slammed my face into a tombstone. The Capital didn't understand, and why should they? They don't know him like the rest of us do. To them, he's their product, their pet. To us, he's one of us, part of the district.

I walked down to the house that nobody could get him out of. Big brother was supposed to be mentoring this year's batch of District Two tributes, and since he wasn't dead or on death's door, he was supposed to be in the town square with the rest of the district.

It was stupid, couldn't they see that he didn't want to do it? No, of course not, if they could see they wouldn't have asked him to mentor. They wanted the tributes to be like him. They wanted fighters, killers, monsters. To them, it's the prime cut of entertainment for the games.

Frustrated at the way the Capital looked at him, and our district for that matter, I continued to walk to big brother's house and tried to think of a way to get him out without breaking down his door. Though if I had to choose between democracy and breaking in, I'd choose breaking in, the Capital would be less pissed at me.

I saw the house in the distance and continued to head towards it. While I got closer and closer, I saw and heard someone banging on the door loudly.

Who was that? It couldn't be another peacekeeper, the Capital had sent me in their place.  
As I got closer, I saw that it wasn't a peacekeeper. The person in front of me wasn't wearing the standard peacekeeper uniform, she was wearing a pretty black dress and a matching black ribbon in her dirty blond hair to form a loose ponytail.

"Steel!" Holly shouted in a voice that I didn't know wither it was in anger or not. "Steel get out here! We need to talk!" Each time she hit the door I swear the entire front of the house seemed to rattle, and that was scary since Holly didn't seem nearly strong enough to do that.  
I got within a foot of her before saying to her in a nasty tone

"Like how he wanted to talk to you before." She turned around to face me, and glared daggers at me. "What?" I asked annoyed at her attitude towards me "all the time big brother wanted to talk to you, you wouldn't let him even say a word before you accused him of something." Which was true. Holly let out a big sigh.

"I know." She said as guilty as they come "it was a huge mistake, I didn't know what he was going through then, I've come to try and make things the way they were before." Things can never be like they were before Holly. And damn right you were making a huge mistake. He was going through hell, and you only added fuel for the hell fire. "Or, at least as close as they can get now."

"Well things can never be the same again." I told her harshly "thanks for the help. Some girl friend you were." She was a real bitch when she found out about the forced prostitution, though she didn't know it was forced, it's still her fault for blowing a hole in the relationship.

"I didn't know." Holly growled at me, her anger was unmistakable. Holly walked right up to me before stopping just inches away from me. I looked down at the girl who was nearly a foot shorter then me, but from the way she looked at me and the way she was standing up to me right now, I felt as if she was the one looking down at me. "I've been trying to talk to him about the mistake I made for nearly six months now." Holly continued to growl at me, not in the least intimidated by how much bigger and stronger I was then her. "But Steel kept on avoiding me, and now I know why that was." As she said the last seven words, she jabbed me in the chest with her right index finger. Even though she wasn't tall, strong, or intimidating looking, I was a little scared of her right now.

But then something clicked in my head. Something that she had said.

"Six months?" I said more to myself then her. Six months? That bugged me. Why was it bugging me. What happened six months ago? Why did she suddenly have a change of heart towards big brother? Think Gunner think. Six months ago. Holly started trying to get to Steel instead of avoiding him. Big brother tried to avoid her. The roles switched after the victory tour. Victory tour. Before that I tried to talk some sense into big brother in the- "were you at the graveyard six months ago?" I asked her thinking back to the graveyard. I half hoped that she was there, but half hoped that she didn't for some strange reason. I wanted them to be back together, big brother was killing himself, she needed to help him, I couldn't do it alone. Most of all, I wanted them to raise their child together. I hoped she was there that day, the day big brother told me everything.

"Yes." She said now looking down to the ground seeming ashamed of herself for spying and listening in on our conversation. I don't know why she should feel that way, but she felt it. "I was there." Well that settled it, I was going to get big brother out of that house even if I had to burn him out.

I went around Holly and walked up to the door and shouted

"Big brother! Open up!" I then started to bang my fists on the door so that he could hear me.  
"Hey! Big brother!"

"I've been doing that for nearly an hour," Holly told me as I continued to bang my fists on the front door "I've received no answer, nothing, not even a get lost."

I banged on the door five more times before deciding that enough was enough, big brother had to get out of there and diplomatic matters had failed. Big brother was going to get out of there wither he wanted to or not.

"Stand back Holly." I told her before I took a step back and started to kick at the door as hard as I could. The door rattled as my foot made contact with the hard wood, and rattled my body as well. Each kick hurt my leg, but I didn't care at the moment, everything we thought was wrong, everything we thought we knew was wrong, everything was wrong. Fucking Capital.  
The wood started to splinter after several kicks. Damn, either this wood was strong or big brother put on a bunch of locks. The side of the door began to break open after every kick, and soon, the multiple dead bolts that were holding the door closed were getting to their breaking point.

Each kick made the door open wider. Each kick weakened the door. I kicked again. A dead bolt fell to the ground with a clang. Another kick. Another dead bolt fell. I kicked again, two dead bolts fell. Another kick and the door swung open as the last dead bolt was dropped. Now the door was held closed by only the flimsy chain lock. I kicked the door one last time before the chain lock busted off and the door swung open with a loud slamming sound.

As soon as the door open I was overcome with the strong smell of strong liquor, vomit, dirty clothes and burnt food. The odors were so foul that I had to stop myself from coughing and had to cover my nose with my jacket sleeve. God, this place was worse then I thought.

But I soon smelt nothing as I saw something in front of me. I saw nothing except that thing in front of me. I smelt nothing, heard nothing, and couldn't even think of anything as I saw the thing in front of me. Suspended in the air by three feet of thick rope around his neck while swinging slightly from left to right, was big brother with a noose around his neck. He had hung himself.

The thing that I had feared for nearly a year was now a reality. It had happened. Damn it! Why now! Why now!? Just when I thought that things might change even a little he had to do it now!  
I heard Holly scream beside me as I felt my legs weaken and I fell to my knees and felt myself getting ready to cry when I noticed a piece of paper tapped to big brother's shirt that read: Monsters don't deserve happy endings.

***One hour before the reapings* **  
**President Frost's POV**

I sighed with relief as I pushed the last of the paperwork on my desk. There, I was finished at last. Those fuel stop stations just had to ask me to sign all those papers to make sure that those who stopped at those fuel stations were really Capital authorities. Did they really need to ask? Couldn't they tell from the trains themselves? All well, they probably were just doing their job. And who knows, maybe some district punks thought that they could make a third rebellion.

What a laugh.

I placed all the paperwork into a scanner and pushed the send button before the machine came to life and lighted up the papers inside while giving out a slight buzzing sound. The machine was sending the paperwork to the fuel stop attendants now. I sighed again and placed my hand around a warm cup of tea to drink. I placed the cup to my lips when the doors burst open.

"Mrs. President Frost!" One of my secretaries shouted startling me and making me spit out my tea in surprise making it go all over my desk and equipment before I started coughing. "Oh," she said not knowing what to do or say. "I'm, I'm sorry."

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking!" I shouted as soon as my coughs were done with. I then saw my personal avox start to clean up after my mess in front of me. I then calmed down a bit before asking "what is it?"

"Well, uh, M-Mrs Pr-Pr-President," she said stuttering with her words. It annoyed me, why didn't she just say it instead of sounding like an idiot. "There, appears to be, a, um-" She had improved her wording, but she was still not getting to the point.

"Just say it." I told her trying not to sound mad. "Just say it and get it over with."

"Steel Redstone's dead. He killed himself." No surprise there, that boy was always crazy and was somewhat mentally unstable after exiting the arena. But still, even thought it had little concern to me, other Capital citizens, especially the young girls that paid him for sex and claimed that he loved them. They'd have a massive fit. "What should we do?" She asked worryingly. I thought for a moment before calmly saying my plan.

"Ok, have District two get another mentor, get the one that mentored Steel or something, let the district pick. As for here," A pause came. What should I do? "Tell his "girlfriends" that he died of a sickness or something, something that doesn't say that he killed himself." It would be bad if they found out the truth.

"Yes, Mrs. President." She said before walking out of my office and closing the door behind her. I sighed and wondered what the one hundredth and thirty ninth Hunger Games would bring us. Would there be monsters like Steel? Would there be cowards like there normally are? Or will there be a new Katniss that will start a third rebellion? I hoped that there wouldn't be someone like that, it would be a disaster. A complete disaster. And that was the last thing that the Capital needed right now, another rebellious girl that thought she was invincible. Damn star crossed lovers, District Twelve was always making trouble.

And secretly, I didn't approve of love in the arena, because look at what it did last times. Though one of them put on a good show.

There were only two times love was in the arena. The first was during the infamous seventy fourth Hunger Games. The other was with a District Ten kid named Druid Ray. Back in his game, he and his district partner fell in love and did all that lovey dovey shit in the arena. But then something amazing happened, he killed his lover when the final five came. The Capital citizens were heartbroken and saddened. I thought that it was wonderful.

I looked back down to my desk and saw that everything looked like new. There was no trace of spilt tea anywhere. I was always impressed with my avox, she got things done good and fast.

A/N: A short Panem history lesson:  
In the beginning, Katniss and Petta won the 74th Hunger Games. Then came the 75th Hunger games. The victors went into the arena, some made it out, some didn't. Katniss got rescued and got flown to District 13. All the districts were rebelling except for District 2. When District 2 gets bombed, District 2 sided with the Capital resulting in the second rebellion failing.  
Katniss along with the rest of the rebellion forces (that got captured after the fight) get executed. The Hunger Games continues.


	4. The reapings

***Six minutes after the reapings***

**President Frost's POV**

Now that all the official business was finally over, I could now focus all my attention solely on the games ahead of me. There was almost nothing for me to do besides personally see all the tributes from my mansion balcony during the chariot tour and to crown the victor or victories when the time came. But that was for later. Other then that, there was nothing for me to do except watch the tributes and hope that the game makers, escorts, stylists, prep teams and mentors did their jobs properly. I sat down in my large, coffortable, black leather chair just as my avox switched on the T.V and switched the channel to the recaps of the district reapings. I didn't even need to tell her to do it, it was like she could read my mind, which was super helpful for me. It was hard to find someone reliable, like her. Most of the other avoxs would wait until they were told to do something, but my personal avox, Castel, could think for herself. After she changed the channel she walked over to my side and stood to my right to watch the reaping with me. I wondered if there was any interesting tributes this year, the careers were always interesting, but would they be ordinary careers, or maybe something else? I didn't want this to be an ordinary game, I wanted something different. Not the predictible kinds of tributes that are the same year after year.

On the T.V screen, the Capital seal appeared before the words "District 1" appeared in white text in the middle of a solid black background, before showing the crowd of boys in girls in the District One square along with their recently promoted escort Drylana Siphison standing in the middle of the huge, shiny, wooden stage.

"Hello District One!" she shouted with joy, and was rewarded with a loud cheer from the crowds. Drylana looked happy to be in District One, but could she handle having such a responsibility? It was a lot different from being in a non-career district, and being the escort of District One was considered a real honor among escorts. "Let's not waste time now, let's get what we need out of the way before we pick this years tributes!" She shouted happily before the mayor walked up and pulled out a piece of paper. It was the history of Panem, the dark days, the peace treaty and all that other stuff. The good thing about watching the recaps is that, unlike watching it live, I didn't have to hear all that, it skipped right to the tribute picking. The screen faded from the mayor starting to read the paper and shot straight to the ending of the speech. Thank god I didn't have to hear the same thing twelve times over. It'd drive me insane.

Drylana then walked over to the girl's reaping bowl and slipped her surgically enhanced hand into the glass bowl to pick out a name. When she pulled the piece of paper out of the bowl, I couldn't wait to see what would happen. "The female tribute is..." Drylana said as she opened the paper and read the name "Re-"

"I volunteer!" A shout cried out from the crowd before a young girl ran out from the eighteen year old section. I watched as a small blond haired girl wearing a knee length shiny pink and orange-ish strapless dress that looked like it was made out of satin. She didn't look that tall for an eighteen year old, but height didn't mean that she wasn't strong. But then again, she might not be that strong pysically. But who knows, she's a career. I watched as she somehow ran gracefully onto the stage in high heels.

"And what's your name you lovely girl?" Drylana asked holding the microphone towards the blond girl.

"Lynsa Fylar!" The girl yelled out full of confidence in both her voice and her big golden eyes. "And I'll be the next victor!" Full of confidence, just like any career. She was a good looker, she'd get a whole bunch of male sponsors for that one reason only. She'd most likely get more after they see her in action.

"Well Lynsa," Drylana said happily "I think that you have a good chance of winning." Lynsa nodded her head once before taking her place on stage. As Drylana walked to the boys reaping bowl, I saw Lynsa start talking to Aphrodite, the female mentor, winner of the one hundred and thirty-sixth hunger games. Did they know each other? "The male tribute is..." Ugh, I was caught up in thought that I missed her picking the boy tribute's name from the bowl. All well, nothing too bad. "Gav-"

"I volunteer!" A few voices shouted at once. I then saw four boys run out of the crowd and run to the stage. Two large boys ran from the eighteen year old section, one ran from the seventeen year old section, and one ran from the sixteen year old section. Ohhhh, this was going to be good. Moments like this is why I like watching the career reapings. In the career district, if there are multiple volunteers, it's whoever gets on the stage first gets to be the tribute for that year's games. I saw the second eighteen year old tackle the lead eighteen year old sending them both to the ground with a thud. Right behind them, the seventeen year old leaped over the two of them followed by the mid heighten sixteen year old, who I suppose didn't see the fallen eighteen year olds, because he tripped over them before crashing to the ground himself. The seventeen year old that made it up the stage was wearing a stunning suit that was completely encrusted with jewels from top to bottom as well as a small rope necklace. Some how, I recognized that suit, maybe someone in his family wore it before him. I didn't recognize the necklace though. The boy turned around and faced the downed boys before shouting

"In your faces bitches!" Before laughing. The camera got a close up on the angered faces of the other tributes before they pulled themselves up and patted off their suits before returning to their places in the crowd.

"And what's your name young man?" Drylana asked walking up to the jewel incrusted seventeen year old. I couldn't help but notice that his short black hair was styled up to be messy. Why didn't he just keep it the way it was if he wanted it to be that way? Styled messy hair verses bed head. What was the difference?

"Griffin Holloway." The seventeen year old answered before taking his place on stage. Not much for words sometimes I thought. And if he talks like that to everyone, he mustn't have many friends. Somehow, I thought that was the case. Drylana then told them to shake hands, and they did, before the video darkened and skipped over to the District Two reapings.

As the screen began to clear, I saw Galaxis Gemini smiling towards the cheering crowd before saying how much of a pleasure it is to be the escort of District Two. Yeah, because Districts One, Two, and Four were normally the only ones that those escorts really cared to be in. The video then skipped over to her fishing her hand around in the girl's reaping bowl before she pulled out a piece of paper containing a name. I held my breath waiting for the chaos to erupt. District Two was my favorite district to watch the reapings in, because there was almost always a fight just waiting to happen there. And some of the most violent fights happened there too. All fun and games until the reapings end.

"The female's name is-" She started, but didn't even get to start reading the name, because almost immediately, a whole crowd of girls started trying to rush up onto the stage while shouting

"I volunteer!" I laughed as I saw a sea of eighteen year olds, seventeen year olds, sixteen year olds, and even some fifteen year old girls flood the area before they started fighting each other to reach the stage and be this year's tribute. Fists were being thrown, kicks were being thrusted, hair was being pulled, it was a riot. I smile crept onto my face as I saw a large eighteen year old expertly pick up a girl that looked about fourteen and fling her into the sixteen year old crowd of non-volunteers. Then something caught my eye. I looked closer and saw a small raven haired figure in a coral pink dress just shy of her knees, jump from one girl's shoulders to the next. I guessed she was twelve, she looked younger, but the minimum age was twelve to be in the reaping crowd. I watched with excitement as she hopped from one of the older girls shoulders to another shoulder in front of her, and sometimes she even landed on their heads before jumping again. Then when she jumped off the last girl's head, she landed on the stage and did an expert shoulder roll. In which she then collided with the table holding the girl's glass reaping bowl off the ground. Her body hit the table, and it in turn knocked over the female reaping bowl. Suddenly, there was the sound of glass shattering on the stage and almost instantly, all became quiet as everyone was looking at the little girl on stage in shock. Even Galaxis seemed to be in shock. Their words stuck in their throats. I looked at the female volunteer and wondered why a twelve year old would volunteer. She'd stand a better chance with a few more years of training. After a few seconds of silence, Galaxis recovered from her shock and professionally shouted

"Well well well! Now who's this lucky lady!"

"How'd you get up there!" A girl angerly shouted from the sea of beaten up would be volunteers.

"You're only twelve!" Another girl shouted

"Get down here so a real tribute can go up!" Another shouted. It sounded as if everyone was ignoring Galaxis because of the little girl on stage. Not that I wouldn't be mad if someone like that toke my chance to volunteer.

"I am a real tribute!" The little raven haired girl shouted with one of the most fiercest determination in both her voice and almond shaped emerald green eyes I had seen and heard. "My name is Howl Draconix! And you want to fight me for the tittle of tribute!" Draconix, I thought. That name sounded very familiar.

"Fuck yeah!" The huge eighteen year old that had tossed the fourteen year old shouted as she walked up stage with bloody fists. Fresh blood still dripping from her fists as her eyes cried out for more. "I'll show you what a real tribute is!"

"Bring it on you whore!" Howl shouted "I can kick your ass ten times over any day!" Even though I loved her attitude, that really angered the eighteen year old girl as fury erupted in her dark green eyes. I saw anger take over the eighteen year olds body before she ran towards the little girl. There seemed to be no competition between the two, the eighteen year old was much bigger in both height and broad. Just as she was inches away from Howl, a fist brutally smashed into her face sending blood flying from her nose, before a strong kick hit her square in the chest and the eighteen year old did painful looking, painful sounding, backward summersaults down the stage stairs.

"Stupid." The female mentor quietly said before returning back to her seat. Howl turned towards the mentor and shouted

"Didn't need your help sis!"

"Alrighty then!" Galaxis shouted trying to get the situation back under control. "Lets get this show back on track! Con graduations Howl Draconix!" As the crowd of girls went back to their spaces, I looked at the stats for Howl. It said her real name was Helena, she was only four foot nine, she only weighed seventy six pounds, and she was sister to the mentor, Elektra Draconix. That's right, the Draconix family, almost all of the family was either victors or trainers. But with her height and weight, did she really stand a chance against the other tributes? She was just so tiny. "The male tribute is-" Galaxis started, but she didn't even get to finish when a flood of boys started running towards the stage shouting

"I volunteer!" Then just as quickly as they started running, the boys started fighting each other. But their fighting was much more brutal then the girls. I watched as the boys not only punch and kick their competition, but also stomp on their faces, shove fingers into eyes, and head butting each other. It looked like a miniature war was going on there. It was so fun to watch. There was also a huge amount of cursing involved as they swore at each other almost constantly. I watched as a strong looking boy started crawling towards the stage on his hands and knees. He almost make it to the stage he just needed to get up two more steps, but then a couple of other boys from the crowd grabbed his leg and pulled him back into the crowd. About ten seconds later, a shoulder length, dirty blond haired boy wearing a black and now blood splattered tux wormed his way out of the crowd and run up to the top of the stage before shouting.

"I made it!" He shouted before all of District Two. "I am the greatest!"

"You suck!" A boy in the non-fighting crowd shouted before laughing

"No you suck!" The boy tribute shouted before laughing with the other boy. "Because I'm up here!" He looked around eighteen. He was only five foot eight, but him standing beside Howl made him look taller and stronger then he already was.

"And what's your name you lucky man?" Galaxis asked

"Lucifer Despar!" The male shouted happily through bleeding gums. He looked liked he had just made his greatest dream come true. And in a way, it was true, it was extremely hard to get a spot in the games in District Two.

"Well," Galaxis said being professional around the wounded boy "may the odds ever be in your favor," she then looked at Howl in a kind of sympathetic kind of way. "Both of yours." It then showed Howl and Lucifer shaking hands before the video skipped over to District Three.

In District Three there was an escort that I didn't recognize. But how could I forget someone with half green half red hair? Oh right, the Capital always had their crazy fashion going on. I turned towards my avox and asked her

"Who is that?" My avox walked over to my desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a red felt marker and wrote: Starbright I don't know last name.

"Thanks." I told her before she walked back to my side. Starbright looked miserable, and angry. Maybe because she was between two career districts and somehow ended up in the middle.

"Lets get this over with." Starbright practically snarled at the mayor at the moment before he started reading out the treaty. The video then skipped to Starbright comically stomping towards the female reaping bowl practically shaking the entire stage before grabbing the first piece of paper she could grab. I laughed at Starbright, she wouldn't be going to a better district anytime soon with that attitude. "Nessa Johnston!" Starbright shouted angrily. All heads turned towards the twelve year old section as a small, slender girl with elbow length dark red hair with caramel coloured skin emerged from the crowd. The crowd then began muttering things such as

"That poor girl."

"She's only twelve."

"That's so sad." Wonder what their reaction will be when they find out a twelve year old from two volunteered and fought an army of girls to be in the games? This twelve year old was very different from Howl. Nessa was scared, so scared I could see her shaking in her shoes as she slowly walked towards the stage. Or maybe she was upset. I saw her try to smile and probably tell herself that everything was going to be all right. But it soon turned into a frown when Starbright harshly shouted

"Move your ass! Come on! Get up here already! I don't have all day!" I'll be sure to demote Starbright for next year. That should teach her a lesson, hopefully. The little girl then scurried up to the stage and toke her place. "About time!" Starbright shouted before rushing over to the boys bowl. She didn't even ask for volunteers before shouting out the next name. "Zap Philistone!"

"That's not my name!" A loud, angry shout came from the crowd. The cameras then focused on something that I never thought I'd see in a district like three. There was a very tall, very muscular boy who looked nearly six and a half feet tall with dark brown hair extending past his shoulders in tatters. He was in a powerful looking white straightjacket, a thick dark blind fold over his eyes, and a muzzle over his mouth. What's more, he was surrounded by five peacekeepers who restrained his raged movements as they escorted him up to the stage. "That's not my name you goddamn fucking whore! My name is Tharizdun! And I want your head! I want your head! I want your head! I want your head! I want your head!" It was at that moment that the whole district seem to be cheering in delight. They were all probably over joyed to see this, Tharizdun, reaped. Everyone cheered, all except Starbright and Nessa, who looked even more scared to have this giant on stage with her. To have him so close to her. I turned to my avox and told her.

"I think we found our new monster." She replied with a nod before turning her gaze back to the screen. A tall, strong monster that was so strong and so feared that he had to wear a straight jacket, blind fold, face muzzle, and be escorted by five peacekeepers. That was truly something. I turned back to see the five peacekeepers escorting the monster beating on him with their blunt weapons as he was walking over to Nessa, getting closer then he should be. But even though the peacekeepers were hitting Tharizdun with hard objects, Tharizdun didn't even seem to notice that he was being hit. I then watched as several more peacekeepers ran from their posts and ran towards Tharizdun as well as a male and female in their mid to late twenties along with them. The screen then shot over to District Four as the peacekeepers and the two civilians piled onto Tharizdun and brought him down from the sheer weight of what appeared to be at least ten bodies.

I wondered what had gone on in District Three, but I decided to find out later. For now, I'd focus on District Four. District Four. To be a career or not to be a career. That's the mystery in District Four. It can sometimes be a career district, and sometimes it won't. One year you could have two volunteers, the next you'd have none. Wonder what it will be this year verses the two volunteers from last year.

On stage I saw Rainbow Light already picking out of the female reaping bowl. Must have zoned out for the first half when I was thinking if there would be any volunteers this year. I hoped that there were vollunteers this year, they ussally put on a better show.

"This year's girl is..." She then opened the piece of paper before reading out "Evaline Ellery!" Then out of the sixteen year old section walked out thin girl with long, curly red hair. She was dressed up like a mermaid. She had green fin looking pants and a purple shirt that didn't quite cover her stomach. She also had a couple of greyish white sea shells holding her red hair up on both sides of her head. It was then that I noticed the thin, long scar running across her head above her right eyebrow. The girl was smiling and was practically skipping to the stage. Looks like she was excited to go to the games, and to have nobody volunteer for her. When she got on the stage she looked onto the crowd and she was meet with silence. I then saw her emotions change. I saw her smile slowly fad and saw the fear run into her green eyes. "Anyone want to volunteer?" Rainbow asked looking towards the crowd, only to hear silence in the air. The girl then hung down her head and looked depressed. Guess she thought that someone would volunteer for her. Sorry sweetie, in District Four, there's always a chance that someone would volunteer, guess this wasn't your year.

Rainbow then walked to the boys reaping bowl and quickly pulled out a name and announced "This year's boy is..." She looked at the paper and read out "Jackson Tied." Then out of the fifteen year old section, a black haired boy wearing dark blue over rails and a blank expression started walking up to the stage as quickly as possible. If it weren't for the fear in his movement you'd think that he was eager to be in the games. But the truth was, it just seemed that he wanted this to be over as soon as possible. He wasn't denying that he was dead. When Jackson was on stage Rainbow asked if there was any volunteers. After a couple seconds of silence, a voice came from the crowd saying

"Yeah, sure, why not." The cameras then focused on another fifteen year old coming out of the crowd, but this one was smaller then the last one, and he had messy light brown hair with just the slightest signs of a tan on his skin. The two boys then crossed each other going in different directions. One going off the stage to safety, the other going on the stage and into danger. Two different paths, two different directions. When the boy got onto the stage Rainbow asked

"What's your name young man?" The boy then faced Rainbow and showed his ice blue eyes to the camera.

"Shoney Germoal." He answered before turning to Evaline and saying unemotionally "What are you so scared of? Its only the Hunger Games." Was he trying to lighten the mood for her? It didn't seem to work with Evaline. She looked just as depressed as before. Rainbow then told the two of them to shake hands, which they did, before the video jumped over to District Five.

As soon as I saw the escort of that district, I just lost all self control and laughed. She had the tallest, golden mo-hawk I had ever seen. It looked ridiculous on her. But then again, lots of things looked ridiculous in most of the Capital fashion log. It could only be Gold Sands. I kind of feel sorry for her, she's been the escort for District Five for nearly twenty years since she started escorting at the young age of sixteen.

"Nice hair Gold!" came a shout from the crowd. And surprisingly, it didn't sound sarcastic.

"Thanks!" Gold shouted back happily. Maybe being their escort for that long made them, like, close acquaintances. "I'm back District Five." There was clapping, and even some cheering. Huh, what was her secret to making them like her like that? That didn't normally happen outside career districts.

The video skipped to Gold placing her hand into the girls reaping bowl before she picked out a name and opened the piece of paper and read out "Valerie Snake!" Then out of the eighteen year old section came a skinny girl with large curves and brown hair. Valerie walked slowly to the stage until eventually she was on the stage. "Anyone want to volunteer for her?" Gold asked even though she probably knew that nobody would. Silence came for maybe two seconds, or maybe not even, before Valerie shouted

"Someone volunteer for me!" Scared, that's what she was. "Someone volunteer for me now!" She shouted. Again, she was meet with silence. Scared and desperate, thats what she was. "Someone fucking volunteer!" She screamed in a high pitched voice before starting to point at random girls and demanded them to take her place. When none of them did, she started throwing a massive fit, like a little kid that didn't get what they wanted. Was she really eighteen? And what did she think this was? A career district?

"Well," Gold said trying to defuse the current situation "the crowd has spoken."

"No!" Valerie shouted "I can't be chosen! It isn't possible!"

"Aw suck it up!" a boy shouted from the crowd "take it like everyone else and just shut up!"

"Take her instead!" Valerie shouted pointing to another eighteen year old girl. Suddenly, a young peacekeeper came up from behind her and whacked her across the back of the head with his baton knocking her unconscious. Valerie's body then painfully crashed face first onto the stage.

"You may be the mayor's daughter," the young peacekeeper told the knocked out Valerie "but that doesn't mean you can change the rules we all live by." Oh, so she was the mayor's daughter. I guess that's why she acted like such a brat. In the corner of the screen, I saw the mayor hiding his face in shame, or maybe sadness. Or maybe both. As the young peacekeeper sat on Valerie's back, Gold walked over to the boys reaping bowl while saying

"Thanks, she was starting to get out of control."

"Your welcome, and it was my pleasure to hit her." The peacekeeper answered with a sadisfying smile on his face. Gold picked out a piece of paper from the boys reaping bowl, opened it, and read out

"Alexander Natas!" Then walking out of the fifteen year old section came an unexpected sight. Walking towards the stage was a lean boy with shoulder length white hair covering his right eye, which was red, same as his left. Blood red eyes. Snow white hair. His hair wasn't old age white, but pure white, like snow. And I didn't think he was wearing contacts. And it was impossible to have surgically altered eyes outside the capital. As the boy walked towards the stage he was meet with stares and name calling.

"Freak!"

"Demon!"

"UN-human fuck!" The boy looked like he was ignoring them, like he couldn't hear them. He acted like they weren't even there. But all I could see in his eyes was rage and hatred. Like he wanted to murder those who insulted him. When Alexander got on the stage, Gold asked if there were any volunteers.

"Fuck no!" Someone in the crowd shouted "that thing should die!" And that basically summed up the silence everyone was showing. Gold them told the two tributes to shack hands. But it would be pretty hard for a knocked out tribute to do such a thing. The peacekeeper on Valerie grabbed her right wrist and held her hand out for Alexander to grab and shake, which he did. The screen then dove into District Six.

In the center of the stage stood a sky blue skinned escort with waist long red hair. I never did understand why the citizens of the capital did things like this to their body. I didn't even want to think of how they thought that stuff like that would look good.

"Hello again District Six!" The escort said into the microphone, only to hear silence from the entire district. Guess they didn't like her very much. "Anyway," she said trying to not look saddened by the lack of response she was getting "let's get going." I turned to my avox and asked

"What's her name?" My avox just shacked her head telling me that she also didn't know. All well, no matter, I'd most likely be meeting them later. I'll learn her name then.

"Rayne Page!" I heard on the T.V. I quickly tuned back to the T.V so that I wouldn't miss anymore. The camera then focused on a stick thin girl slowly coming out of the seventeen year old section. The way she walked down to the stage was something uncommon in the non-career districts. She might have been scared, but she was very good at covering it up from the way she walked towards the stage. If it weren't for her wide champagne coloured eyes she'd look fearless. When she got up to the stage I got a good look at her. She was really tall with a light uneven tan. And what was most noticeable was that her shoulder length hair was all the kinds of blond that you could think of. Strawberry blond, ash blond, dirty blond, light blond, dark blond, ect. Did she dye them those colours? It wasn't Capital worthy, so it was most likely homemade stuff. "Anyone want to volunteer for this young lady?" The escort asked, only to be meet in silence again. After a few seconds, Rayne said with a calm voice that had little fear in it.

"Its ok, I can do this."

"Uh, ok." The escort said surprised by Rayne's answer. This Rayne probably knew that nobody would even think of taking her place. That was the right thing to think. This Rayne was an interesting tribute. The escort then walked over to the boys reaping bowl and picked out a name before opening the paper and read out "Ricky Coler!" I then saw a really tall boy with strawberry blond hair slowly out of the fourteen year old section and walk towards the stage. Huh, there was something about him that I thought wasn't normal, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. But as soon as he got up on stage I saw why. He was deathly pale, his skin was as white as paper. And when I got a glance of his eyes, I saw creepy black eyes that looked more like black holes instead of eyes. Like they were almost all pupils and almost no irises. And by the way Rayne looked at him, she thought that he was a creep as well. When the escort asked for volunteers again, she was meet with silence. It wasn't surprising, but I bet the escort wanted to hear a few more words out of the district that she was escorting. "Shake hands then." She told the two tributes with dissadisfaction in her voice.

The two tributes then shook hands before Rayne's voice told black eyed boy

"I will kill you so I can return home." All the boy did was smile and nod his head like he was saying. Yeah right to her. But then he leaned in towards her right ear. If it weren't for the subtitles on the bottom of the screen I would never have known what he said to her.

"Try." Then the screen then played over to District Seven.

Thank god, I didn't want to see any more of that creep in six.

As the text of District Seven flashed on the screen, I thought of the previous tributes. You had the normal careers except for Howl who's only twelve years old, and Evaline who was the only one reaped in a career district. You have twelve year old Nessa and psychopathic Tharizdun in District Three. There was red eyed Alexander and whiny bitch Valerie in District Five. Then there was all types of blond Rayne and creepy eyed Ricky from six. What other tributes would there be this year?

As I watched District Seven's escort walk towards the girls reaping bowl I thought of how District Seven usually had almost career like tributes. They were usually strong because of their lumber trade and were skilled in axes, hatchets, and might also be skilled in various other simple weapons such as slingshots. District Seven tributes might have all those qualities, but unlike the careers, they sometimes weren't as willing to kill. That was usally a disapointment, expeshally in the bloodbath. I'm sure glad that last year's District Seven tributes were nothing like that, they were willing to fight to the death. I hope this year's District Seven tributes are willing to do the same.

"Our girl tribute for District Seven is," the escort called out before opening the piece of paper containing the name. "Sami Lavisa!" Nothing happened. Like literally, nothing happened. Everyone just stood there silently and didn't move. Guess everyone was too relived to move, except for the girl who got reaped, she was probably too scared to move. The escort looked around confused by the lack of movement before calling out again "Sami Lavisa!" Then someone slowly came out of the fifteen year old section. A thin, pale girl with long orange hair. Someone pale in District Seven? That's as strange as a pale person coming from District Ten or Eleven. I could see that Sami was scared to go up on stage. Her body was shaking and she was fiddling with her fingers as well as looking left and right almost every step. It was like she was looking for a way out of the current situation. Sorry girl, you won't find a way out on your own, and I doubt that someone will volunteer for you.

When Sami got to the stairs, her escort held out a reassuring hand for her. "Its ok." She said like she was talking to a scared child, which wasn't far from the truth. "Everything's fine." Sami took her hand slowly, but stayed a fair distance from the escort as she lead her to her place on the stage. "Just wait here, ok?" The escort told Sami, who just looked up at her with sad and scared green eyes that looked like they were going to cry. She probably didn't believe a word her escort said. "I'll be back." The escort told her before asking for volunteers, but silence took over again. The escort then ran over to the boys reaping bowl and threw her arm down deep into the paper. It looked like she was trying to reach the bottom of the bowl. Then when her hand came out from the reaping bowl, she held a single piece in her fingers while several other flew out of the bowl, and fluttered gently in the air before they landed on the stage floor.

The escort ignored the falling pieces of papers while opening the one in her fingers and called out "Bo Heatherfield!" Then same as last time, nothing happened. "Bo Heatherfield!" She repeated. Then the camera focused on a couple of kids in the seventeen year old section. One had short spiky black hair while the other had short blond spiky black hair. The two kids were looking at each other before the black haired kid pointed to the stage and the blond haired boy started to walk forwards. And like Sami, there was fear in his movements. When Bo eventually got to the stairs, the escort then did the same thing for Bo that she did for Sami, she held out her hand and guided him to his place on the stage. "Any volunteers?" The escort asked when Bo was in his place. And not surprisingly, she was meet with silence again. That is, until a sniffle broke the silence. The camera then turned to Sami, and there were tears running out of her eyes as she was sniffling. Then suddenly, Bo started to cry as well. At least it wasn't wailing, I couldn't stand kids who cried loudly. "Well, um," the escort said like she didn't know what to do or say. "Shake hands you two." The two tributes then turned to each other and slowly extended their hands for them to shake. When they grabbed and shook each others hands, they looked at each other with sad faces, like they were saying: Things aren't going to be ok are they? As the tears ran down their faces, the screen switched over to District Eight. Wow, District Seven was kind of depressing. I hoped that the next districts weren't all like that.

On District Eight's stage stood their young, new promoted escort, Valentina Velvet with her long, fire red wig and matching outfit.

"Hello District Eight!" Valentina shouted in the microphone. The audience responded by giving pitiful clapping and the additional unenthusiastic whoops. Even though it wasn't really anything to be happy about, Valentina seemed to accept the pitiful welcome. Valentina then asked the mayor to come up and read the treaty before the choosing of the tributes. At that moment, the screen skipped over to Valentina running over to the girl's reaping bowl before reaching into it and picking out a random name. "This year's girl tribute is..." Valentina announced as she unfolded the paper in her hand. "December Varen!" Almost immediately, a thin girl with dark chocolate curls that sprang off her mid-back and tanned skin, ran towards the stage while wearing a simple green blouse and white skirt. Huh, wonder why she was doing that? To get it over with or something? Valentina was certainly surprised by December's reaction as well. "Oh, excited are we?" She smiled. But everyone in the crowd knew that that wasn't the case, not even close. "Don't worry," Valentina told December "you'll get to the games soon enough." That to me was the worst thing anyone could say to a non-career tribute.

"Why did I get picked?" December asked with confused innocence in her oval shaped dark chestnut eyes that made her seem younger then fifteen.

"Luck of the draw December." Valentina told her before walking over to the boys bowl while December started to shake.

"Ember." Valentina stopped walking halfway to the boys bowl before she turned around and asked

"What's that dear?"

"I'm Ember." December, Ember told her.

"Ok, Ember." Valentina said before she turned back to the boys reaping bowl and walked towards it. When she reached the reaping bowl she dove her hand into the bowl and picked out a name at random. She unfolded the paper and read out "Dav Anders!" Then out of the eighteen year old section came a boy with black spiky black hair and a body that looked fatter then normal tributes. He must be from a rich family, most normal non-careers didn't have a lot of weight to spare, I thought as he walked up the stage to take his place on it. Nobody but careers looked happy to be up on stage, but this boy looked like he was going to explode in anger. I was sure that he sure didn't expect to be reaped. And being from a rich family, if he was from a rich family, didn't think that he could get reaped. Well, just like that girl Valerie from five found out. Nobody was safe from being reaped, no matter how rich or who your family was. "Ok you two," Valentina happily said to the two of them "shake hands now." While Ember stuck out her hand in good nature, Dav didn't even look at her. He looked away and didn't even acknowledge that she was there.

"Why won't you shake my hand?" Ember asked him kind of sensitively. I guess I'd feel the same way if someone was ignoring me like I didn't exist. Valentina must have tried and failed to get them to shake hands, because the screen skipped over to District Nine. Man, Dav Anders is a major asshole.

On stage in District Nine was their escort Sandy Villas.

"Well," Sandy said to the crowd "I'm sure you're all very busy, so I'll try not to waste much of your time." Then up came the mayor who started to read out the treaty before the video skipped over to Sandy pulling a name out of the reaping bowl. She opened the piece of paper and called out "Talliana Messine!" The camera then turned over to the seventeen year old section where a thin, dark brown haired girl with medium skin tone, wearing a rust coloured knee length dress, walked out from the seventeen year old girl crowd and walked towards the stage. With her movements, a lot of people would have thought that she didn't really care about being picked, but I've seen hundreds of kids try to cover up their feelings, and anyone that really watches the reapings and examines the tributes would also know, that she was actually scared. When she got on top of the stage, she just looked at her escort and told her

"Just pick the next victim and lets go." Guess it's what she does to over come fear. Or maybe that's just her normal attitude.

"Don't you want to know if-" Sandy started before Talliana shouted

"Nobody's going to volunteer for me! Just pick the next name!" Sandy just nodded to her calmly and walked over to the boys bowl and scooped out a name before opening the paper and calling out

"Sam Restore!" I then saw all the heads in the crowd turn towards the back of the reaping crowd, I followed the heads and saw that it wasn't really the back of the crowd, but just about. Out of the thirteen year old crowd came a small boy with short blond hair and a ripped, dark green button up shirt with ripped beige pants. The boy must have been well known for others to know who and where he was. The boy went out of the crowd, and slowly took his time going to stage. All heads followed him until a voice called out

"Hay! Wait! I volunteer!" Then the attention turned from Sam Restore, to a semi tanned boy with short black hair wearing the same thing as the younger boy, but his clothes weren't ripped, the top three buttons for his shirt were undone, and he sported a red bandana around his forehead. He also had two gold ring piercings on his right ear. The older boy ran out from the seventeen year old section and ran up to the younger boy. "I volunteer for you." He said as he was standing right beside him. The little boy looked up at the taller boy and smiled gratefully before running back to the thirteen year old section. As Sam ran back to his place in the thirteen year old section, all heads were turned over to the seventeen year old boy who had volunteered. As the seventeen year old walked confidently up the stage stairs, I thought of how volunteers in non-career districts were rare. This boy would probably be recognized in the Capital for that one single act. Any why would he do it anyway? Did he know the kid? Or did he want to be in the games? Or maybe something else? When the boy got up on stage, Sandy walked up to him and asked

"What's your name dear?"

"Arrowe Winter." The boy announced confidently to both Sandy and the crowd.

"Aren't you scared of the games?" Sandy asked Arrowe "most kids wouldn't want to be in them. Are you willing to risk your life?" Arrowe smiled at her like it was the funnest thing in the world

"I'm willing to risk it."

"Well," Sandy said kind of shocked by this boy's response. "Well, may the odds be in your favor." Sandy then instructed the two tributes to shake hands. As I saw Arrowe turn around, I saw that his right, bright green eye, get replaced by a black eye. Almost like the District Six boy's. The screen then faded before turning over to District Ten.

District Ten. As the district ten text flashed on the screen, I thought of the last three districts in Panem. Where you start to feel the hopelessness in the districts. In Districts Ten, Eleven, and Twelve, you start to feel the pain, misery, and hopelessness that are in the worst districts to live in. Only those who have traveled to those districts and those who live in them know what it really feels like. You could see in on screen, but you only really feel it when you're there in person. I've traveled to those districts. And it wasn't pretty.

I then saw the screen show Aera Hibiscus, the newly promoted escort of District Ten who had just left District Eleven for this district. And did she not look happy. I had heard from somewhere that she had lost her favorite wig, and that had put her in a bad mood. Seriously, the things that people flip out for. Now on stage, she wore a candy pink wig in a pony tail. She also wore yellow contact lenses for some reason. It didn't look good on her. And just like most of the tributes in the district she was escorting, she had tanned skin, except it wasn't a natural one, it was obviously fake. Was she trying to fit in? It was a lost cause, anyone could tell that her tanned skin was fake.

"Hello there District Ten." Aera talked like she wasn't trying to breathe in. I guessed that it was because of the animals. It didn't smell pleasant in District Ten.

"That's a nice wig you got new lady!" A young voice shouting from the reaping crowd. There was a little ripple of laughter after the child's comment was finished. Aera then lashed out and pointed one of her six inch nails at the crowd.

"Shut your mouth kid!" Then she looked at the mayor like she'd rather be anywhere but where she was and instructed him to read the treaty. Boy, what a grouch. The screen then skipped over to Aera hurrying over to the girls reaping bowl before spearing a piece of paper with her right index nail. The only thing I could think of at that moment, was how nasty it would be to be cut by one of those nails. Aera took the piece of paper off her nail and opened it out to read out "Life Lee!" I thought of that name, Life. It was like back in the dark days when people named their kids names such as Hope, Faith, Shine, and Joy. I saw a scrawny figure in a faded blue dress and faded out old jacket come walking out of the seventeen year old section. As she walked up, I noticed that her dress was a little too tight for her. And at the same time, I noticed that Aera was looking at the girl with her arms crossed across her chest along with the look of impatience on her face. As the ginger haired girl made her way up the stairs, Aera hurried over to the boys reaping bowl. She didn't even wait for Life to get up on stage before she speared another name with one of her long fingernails. She toke the paper off her nail, unfolded it, and read out "Max Starling!"

In one of the front corners of the thirteen year old sections, kids started to depart away from one of their own. As the small boy with long brown hair and tanned skin started to make his way to the stage, I heard him start to cry out in both sadness and fear.

"I don't wanna go." I heard him cry as he neared the stage "I don't wanna go. I don't wanna die!" Then all of a sudden, a retching sound appeared from out of nowhere. The camera then turned over to the stage, to see Life Lee doubled over, vomiting, and crying her heart out as well. I then thought of the District Seven tributes, and thought that this was a more extreme version of their reapings.

"Aw give me a break!" Aera shouted with her head flung back rather annoyed "I've now got a couple of criers to deal with!"

"Gee, I wonder why!" An older kid shouted out from someplace in the crowd. Aera then looked as if she wanted to claw somebody as she looked into the crowd. Her anger was unmistakeable as her eyes burned fire inside them.

"Shut your face kid!" As soon as she was done, Aera then turned over to Max, who had just made it up to the top step. Aera then rushed over to him faster then I saw anyone ever do. Aera then grabbed the sobbing Max Starling's wrist, and pulled him towards the weeping Life Lee before grabbing her wrist with the other hand. From the sudden pain in Life's face, it looked like Aera had cut her a bit with her nails. "There!" Aera shouted "They've shook hands! My job here is done, see you two on the train." And as Aera walked away from the stage while the crowd started shouting insults and curses at her, the screen skipped over to District Eleven. Boy, what a bitch. All that over a wig? I'll never understand my own people.

As District Eleven's text flashed on screen, I thought of those two District Ten tributes. Both tributes looked almost starved. Not surprising from where they were both from. Both had cried, just like the District Seven tributes. Just about everyone but careers feared the games, but did that mean that the criers were more afraid? Or were they just putting on a show for sympathy? That had been done in the past, and it would be done in the future as well. My question was, was this being done now? Or were they really just that afraid.

Now on T.V stood Veronica Stiffle in the middle of District Eleven's stage. District Eleven is a violent district, in District Eleven, you can literally feel the fear that ran in the district. It was so thick that you might think that you could psyically grab it in your hands, that the air was that full of it.

"Hi District Eleven." Veronica spoke into the microphone.

"Hi." The audience said very quietly and quickly. Veronica mustn't have expected much as she gave the mayor the signal to come out and read the treaty. The screen then jumped over to Veronica picking out a name out of the girls reaping bowl. Veronica drew out a name and called out

"Angel Hale!" Then all of a sudden, every head turned towards the fourteen year old section. Then every head started to follow a light skinned girl with black wavy hair wearing a yellow dress. Not many people had light skin in District Eleven. Wonder why she did. Did she go out much? This girl tried to walk bravely towards the stage, but everyone could see that she was scared, but she still put an effort into trying to not look scared. She walked up on stage and eyed the population with scared green eyes. "Well," Veronica called to the audience "would anyone want to volunteer for this young lady?" Her answer was only the birds chirping around in the surrounding fields. Veronica got the hint and walked over to the boys reaping bowl and pulled out a name. She unfolded the paper and read out "A-rin, Air-e-in." The crowd then started to laugh a little at her expense. "Air-run." Veronica's face turned red faced before looking at Angel and holding out the boy's reaping name. "Can you say this name sweetie?" Veronica asked kindly. Angel then looked at the name and read out

"A-" She then stopped and looked at her escort. "I'm sorry, I'm not good at reading."

"It's Aerin Sevani (ay-er-in sev-ar-ny)." A voice called out. The cameras then focused on a tall, dark brown skinned boy with black hair wearing a fairly clean white t-shirt and black trousers. He also had a small scar just over his left eye. This boy looked the same age as Angel, but he looked so much stronger. Probably due to working out in the fields a lot. When he got to the top of the stage, he told the two girls on stage with a smile "Its alright, its kind of a hard name to read." He was acting all cheerful now, but what I saw before was a scared kid not wanting to move from his spot until just before now. Veronica gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Aerin."

"No problem." Aerin then stuck out his hand for Angel to take. The two of them shook hands before the screen skipped to the last district. District Twelve.

District Twelve. The birthplace of Katniss Everdeen, the icon for the second rebellion, and by far, the worst place to live other then District Eleven, and District Thirteen which is now flooded with real radiation. Not the cover up radiation of false news, but real, deadly, killing radiation. Thirteen thought they could stop the Capital, but they forgot one thing, District Two, and we, the Capital, with the help of District Two, crushed them before obliterating them for real this time. There was no coming back for District Thirteen. Now because of the rebellion, District Twelve was a run down shanty town with scars of the firebombs that were dropped on them nearly sixty-five years ago. Now on stage, in the center of the run down district, stood the district's newest escort. Eighteen year old Crystal, now doing her first escort ever.

"Hello District Twelve." She said breaking the tension of silence. Only for her to get hit in the face with a fist size rock. Nice way for her to start her escorting career. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was kind of funny to see. Her nose exploded with blood as she fell backwards on the stage before peacekeepers started to point guns in the general direction of where the stone came from.

"Fucking animals!" Crystal shrieked out enraged as blood ran down her pale white face. District Twelve had changed dramatically ever since Katniss died. No more were the relaxed peacekeepers from before, the peacekeepers now were more like those in District Ten now.

"Pick a name and get the hell out of here!" An adult male voice shouted. A bullet rang through the air before people started shouting and ducking in fear. A peacekeeper had shot his gun in the air and smoke rose from his gun barrel.

"That's a warning!" He shouted aggressively to the crowd "Next time, someone will get shot, and I don't care if their innocent or not!" The crowd calmed down a little before Crystal stood up, walked over to the girls reaping bowl, and picked a name with her non-bloody hand.

"Evanlyn Scott!" Crystal said holding her nose with her bloody hand making her voice go up a pitch. Then a thin, expressionless, blond haired girl with pale skin walked out of the fourteen year old section and made her way to the stage wearing a plain blue dress with some white trim. I saw her look alert as she passed a peacekeeper before eyeing the mayor up. Was she scared of authority figures? When she got up on stage and turned to face the crowd, I saw her worried blue eyes stare straight at one place, not moving for anything. What was over there I thought, what was she looking at? "Anyone want to volunteer for her!" Crystal shouted to the crowd. But not surprisingly, nobody spoke up. "Yeah," Crystal laughed and smiled wickedly at the audience. "Thats what I thought." She then ran over to the boys reaping bowl and pulled out the first name she encountered. "Colin Aldrin!" Then out of the seventeen year old section, I saw a fat boy with short blond hair and blue eyes clumsily make his way to the stage by bumping into everyone in his way. But it soon turned into less bumping into people and more into other kids shoving him out of the crowd. When the kids managed to shove him out of the crowd, one kids shouted

"Get your fat ass on that stage!" the fat boy then walked over to the stage stairs and made his way to the top of the stage, while tripping a lot down the stairs, causing the audience to laugh their heads off. When he finally toke his place on stage, he smiled at the girl tribute, who ignored him and kept a fixed eye on the thing she was looking at. She didn't even change expressions. Crystal then told the two tributes to shake hands. Which they did. The screen then faded to black before flashing the Capital seal once again, signiling the end of the reaping re-caps. The screen then went blank as my avox turned the screen off. I thought of Districts Seven through Twelve now.

Sami and Bo, the quiet criers from seven. Dav and Ember from eight. The boy who thought he was higher up then sensitive girl. Talliana, the normal, and Arrowe the volunteer from nine. Max and Life, the two criers from ten. Little Angel and hard to read Aerin from eleven. Fat Colin and expressionless Evanlyn from twelve. Would these twenty-four tributes entertain me? In their own ways they might. And out of those twenty-four, who would walk out alive and become the winner of the one hundred and thirty ninth hunger games? All those questions would be answered in time. But for now, I was just going to relax.

District 1:

M: Griffin Holloway - 17 -

F: Lynsa Fylar - 18 -

District 2:

M: Lucifer Despar - 18 -

F: Helena "Howl" Draconix - 12 -

District 3:

M: Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone - 18 -

F: Nessa Christine Johnston - 12 -

District 4:

M: Shoney Germoal - 15 -

F: Evaline "Eva" Ellery - 16 -

District 5:

M: Alexander natas - 15 -

F: Valerie Snake - 18 -

District 6:

M: Ricky Coler - 14 -

F: Rayne Page - 17 -

District 7:

M: Bo Heatherfield – 17 -

F: Sami Lavisa - 15 -

District 8:

M: Dav Anders – 18 -

F: December Juliet "Ember" Varen – 15 -

District 9:

M: Arrowe Winter - 18 -

F: Talliana Messine - 17 -

District 10:

M: Max Starling - 13 -

F: Life Lee – 17 -

District 11:

M: Aerin Sevani - 14 -

F: Angel Hale – 14 -

District 12:

M: Colin Aldrin – 17 -

F: Evanlyn "Eve" Scott - 14 -

A/N: Sorry if this wasn't the kind of reapings you were expecting, but I wanted to get this done, I know some people like the individual district reapings, but that would have taken a while. Anyway, tell me what you think, did I do well? Did I do your characters right? How can I improve?

I would also like to thank Crazy Reed, Charlie3Cato, hublub, incubiis, Rosemarie Benson, window16, Fiddlegirl, MyDarkTribute, Max Albina, SoaringRaven1,Aira Skies, Thgultimatefan19, Fanficsdaydreamer, Camp Half-Blood, The Moonlight Sonata, skyflower51, Courtney DiLaurentis, and Callilily for sending in these great tributes.


	5. Goodbyes

**District One**

**Griffin Holloway's POV**

As the peacekeeper in front of me kept on saying that I could only see one person at a time and I could only be with them for a minute or something, I just wanted to tell him to shut up, I know how it goes, I'm not stupid. But by the time I was about to say it, he was done. He had turned his back towards me and was walking out the door. Fine, be that way, I didn't need you to tell me how to say goodbye anyway. I sighed and tried to relax. By the time I had taken my second breath, I heard the door open. I looked up to see my father walk in. And in his arms was Alura, my three year old little sister.

"Hi son." My father said to me smiling, something he rarely did since mom had died two years ago.

"Father." I answered. I looked at Alura and flashed her a smile before saying "Alura."

"Griffin." My little sister said perfectly. Up until now, she had never said my name right. It was either Gwiffin, or Griffun or Ti-Ti. Father must have made her say my real name instead of Ti-Ti, which she always did. It made me happy just to know that she could say my name right.

"Father." I said still looking at Alura who was reaching out for me. Like she wanted to play with me again, like I wasn't going to be sent to my death. Which I wasn't, I was going to come back, and I don't know if she knew that, but I was coming back for her. I was going to come back a victor. "Take care of Alura for me, don't let anything happen to her."

"Of course son." My father said like I had told him he was incapable of doing such a thing. I know he can do it, but it's just a matter of if he'll put an effort into doing it. I felt angry at him for that. I was the brother, not the father for Alura, he was, and yet, who raised her? I did, not him. Me.

"You will." I said fiercely, practicably snarling. "You will take care of her, like I did instead of you for the last three years." My father seemed taken aback by it, but it was the truth, there was no hiding it.

"Ok," He said after recovering from his shock "I will." Good. "Son," He continued like the conversation earlier hadn't happened. "I'm so proud of you, this family's going to have a victor." Hell yeah it will, that was what I was born to be. "Just," Father said with hurt in his voice "don't end up like your brother." Dragon. That guy who was always the top dog of the family, well, I was going to show him, I was going to be what he couldn't be, a victor. He may have been older when he went in, but I'm better them him, I wouldn't die, I would come back and be the one father talked about. I was going to be the son he and mom could be proud of.

"I won't." I told him before gently touching the rope necklace mother had made me. The thing that meant the most to me besides Alura. I made mother a promise, that I'd win in her name when I was eighteen. I wasn't eighteen now, but I'll still win in her name, even if it was a year earlier then she wanted it to be.

"Time's up!" I heard a voice say from somewhere. I looked around my father and saw a peacekeeper point my father and my little sister out the door. And just like that, they were gone. I wouldn't see them till I came home victorious.

The next person that appeared in front of me was Marq and his little four year old brother, Matt. Marq, my best friend. As Marq bumped into the peacekeeper escorting him, I thought of how we were alike in a way. We both raised out younger siblings, we both lost someone precious to us, except he lost both his parents to the sickness that happened two years ago while I only lost my mother.

"Hey Griff." Marq said to me smiling.

"Hey Marq." I said back returning the smile.

"So," Marq said looking around the justice building taking in the scenery. It was a nice place if I say so myself. "Going into the games huh, I could never do something like that." That was true, Marq wasn't the bravest person alive.

"Hey," I said getting to the point. "If I don't make it, take care of Alura for me." I then felt something hit me in the shoulder before hearing Marq say

"Don't think like that, you'll make it, your the strongest, smartest, and bravest person in District One."

"Yeah," I said laughing and smiling a bit "guess I am."

"And don't worry, I'll take good care of her, that is, until you come back." I couldn't help but feel grateful to my best friend. It was then that he had to leave, his time was up. I watched him walk out, partly because I was worried about him, he was hitting stone arches and tripping over the smallest things. But he managed to make it out ok in the end.

Father, Alura, Marq, Matt. They'd be one happy family, even if I didn't make it. Alura and Matt, they'd be happy together, even if I wasn't there. But that chance was slim. I was going to be there, and I'd see that all of them lived happily. I gently rubbed mother's rope necklace and thought of her. I'd win for her as well. That was a promise.

**Lynsa Fylar's POV**

"You're lucky nobody tried to volunteer besides you!" My father shouted at me, like he almost always did. "If anyone even thought of volunteering this year, you wouldn't have even stepped foot on that damn stage!"

"But I did." I told him to show that I wasn't scared of him, only to get hit in the chest by his hard fist, knocking the wind out of me. If only the peacekeepers didn't stand watch outside. Personal time? More like personal toucher time.

"Don't back talk to me like that!" My father raged out at me "the other tributes out there are bigger then you, even though your eighteen!" He shouted while waving his arms around in a fit "and you never wanted to train! What makes you think that you'll be able to to beat that Griffin fellow!? Or the District Two careers!? Or District Four!? Or the loser tributes!? I bet you couldn't beat a twelve year old from twelve if you had a sword and they had no arms!" I hate swords, I'd kill them with an arrow instead. That was what I was good at. And I may be small, but I was stronger then some girls in this district. And I did train, just not up to their extreme standards. I managed to stand back up straight and look into my father's eyes that were always full of hatred towards me.

"I'll win," I told him fiercely. I wasn't going to back down just because him and mom beat me and made fun of me. "Then you'll see that I'm not just some little weak girl." My father looked like he wanted to hit me again, and I braced myself for it.

"Time's up!" A male voice shouted. I opened my eyes and saw more anger flood into my father's eyes. He was about to hit me, but that peacekeeper interfered. Thank god.  
Next came my mom, which was about the same thing as my father. She told me that I couldn't do it, that I was weak, that I'd die in the bloodbath if I wasn't in the career pack. She managed to hit me twice before her time was up as well.

Next came my twin brother, Evan. Winner of the games from two years ago.

"Did mom and dad hit you again?" Evan asked worriedly. Out of my family, he was the only one who didn't abuse me.

"Only where it won't be too noticeable." I fake smiled to him. I didn't want to worry him too much. And I tried to show that I wasn't in too much pain, even though mom and father were extremely strong, and pain radiated all over my torso area.

"I'm sorry." Evan told me looking like it was his fault that he couldn't protect me. But it wasn't his fault, he couldn't be with me every time something happened. My twin then looked up and smiled at me before saying "that's a nice dress." And before I knew it, he started to leave. Before I could ask why he was leaving, he answered "I'm not supposed to be here." Had he snuck in just to see me? The next thing I knew, the door had opened and Evan and Apolo looked at each other dumbstruck. It was like they didn't expect to see each other.

"You're not supposed to be here." The peacekeeper told my brother. "Now get on the train." Guess mentors can't see the tributes. Even if they are related. So much for Aphrodite seeing me. As Evan left, Apollo entered.

"Hi there." He said to me sweetly as he closed the door behind him.

"Hi." I answered. I thought of Apollo, and how we meet at the training center. Back when I didn't have very many friends, and when I just needed someone to love. He gave me the love I needed. The one that father and mom never gave to me.

"Are you scared?" He asked

"Yes." I whispered truthfully. And that was all I needed to say. Because before I knew it, I felt his arms wrap around me. I then felt sad that I was leaving him. My best friend, who had given me everything I needed. What if I didn't make it back. I then felt tears build up in my eyes as I cried my heart out on his chest. I might love the Hunger Games, but at the same time, I hate them. The death, the glory, the way they made people. I hoped that I didn't meet another Steel Redstone in there.

After crying with Apollo, I meet up with Areina, a girl who doesn't train, who I admired, because unlike most girls in the district, she doesn't want to be a victor. Then next came my other friends, then came school mates, then came acquaintances. I was so happy, and so sad that people were coming to see me. I never even knew that may people knew me. That those people cared about me. Now I wish I had taken more time to know them. And I would, if I came back. Which I would, for them, for my friends, for Even, for Apollo. For all of them.

**District Two**

**Helena "Howl" Draconix's POV**

"Helena!" My mom shouted to me clearly displeased with me. "Your father and I are extremely displeased with your decision to volunteer!" I knew it. They always put me down. Just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm not dangerous. "Why are you doing this!?"

"So that I can show you all that I'm not some harmless little girl!" I shouted to my mom angrily. "I'll show you that I can be a victor too, and at only twelve!" I was going to show her that everyone in this family, even me, could be someone to be proud of.

"That has got to be the worst decision you have ever made!" Mom shouted clearly annoyed. "Because of this, you'll come home in a coffin!" I smiled at her before telling her

"Your just jealous because I'm going to win at the age of twelve, something that you could never do." And this was going to be the best decision that I ever made. I wasn't going to come home in a coffin, I was going to come home a victor, just like almost everyone else in my family.

"UGH!" Mom shouted clearly irritated with me. No, she was just jelous that I was going to be the most famous member of this family. "Why do I even bother trying to talk to you!?"

"Time's up!" A peacekeeper shouted

"Perfect timing," I told mom "you were just about to lose this conversation."

"And your about to lose your life!" She shot back before leaving. As the door closed I thought of how everyone underestimated me just because of my figure. God. I may be small and thin. But mom wasn't that tall, and Elektra wasn't that tall either, and she was a victor. Fuck. I was always the underdog of this family. Why didn't anyone see me for victor material?

"Howl!" Called out a voice. I looked up to see my seventeen year old sister, Athena. "How's it going?"

"Be better if mom and dad didn't think that I couldn't win." Athena's face fell into a frown as she heard those words.

"Sorry to hear that. I mean," she then started to smile again "how could they think that this little thing could lose?" She said before she started to ruffle my hair. I pushed her hand away while smiling at her.

"This little thing is going to be the greatest victor ever." I told her. And I was, there weren't many twelve year old victors. I was going to be a living legend. I was going to be history.

"Hope so." Athena said before leaving "see you in the Capital little Howler." I hate being called little. Before I could say anything to her, she left. And in her place came Azael, my nineteen year old brother. The charming and attractive one of the family that the girls flock to. But I didn't think so, he's a jerk sometimes.

"Hey there little girl? What you doing here? You lost or something?" He teased.

"Very funny." I sarcastically told him "what do you want?" Azael sighed.

"Just want to see how my little sis is doing."

"Sure," I said looking away from him and crossing my arms annoyed with him "sure you are."

"Look, sorry about mom and dad and everything, ok, just, don't think about it right now, ok?"

"Fine, I'll try." I told him thinking of everyone's reactions when I came home victorious. Then he left. Short visit.

Next came in my fifteen year old brother, Xephyr.

"Elecktra couldn't be here," Xephyr told me as he was coming through the door "but she told me to tell you that she's upset with your decision, same as me." Being underestimated again. Why do they all do this?

"Geez," I told him "it's my decision." Xephyr might have my respect and he might be my favorite sibling, but that doesn't mean he can treat me like everyone else.

"You should have waited three or six years." Xephyr told me "that way, we wouldn't have to see you die."

"I don't need six years," I told him calmly "I don't even need one year, I'll win, then everyone will know not to underestimate me again."

"Well," He said smiling. "If that's the way it is, show them who's boss." Yeah, that's why you're my favorite. "Oh yes, Athena and Azael forgot to say, win, or we'll kill you personally."

"Tell them that won't be necessary." He nodded his head before leaving.

Next rushed in three people. First I saw twelve year old Aurora, then thirteen year old Nexus, followed by fourteen year old Ares. My three best friends.

"Hay!" A voice shouted behind them. It was the peacekeeper guarding the door. "One at a-" He started, but then seemed to instantly re-think his words. "Forget it." He then closed the door before my three friends crashed into me sending me to the floor laughing.

"There's our victor!" Aurora shouted cheerfully. Unlike my family, at least she's good to me.

"Damn straight!" I told her.

"I can't believe it, this tiny thing's beating me!" Nexus shouted in what I guess was jealousy.

"Don't call me that non-volunteer baby!"

"Says the one that broke the reaping bowl! Can't you do a proper combat roll!?"

"Says the guy who's not going to win the games before me!"

"Can't beat her there." Ares told him "no matter what you say or do, she'll always win first."

Ares. "That is, if she wins." I pushed him back before laughing

"I'll win, you can bet on that, unlike someone." I said looking at Nexus.

"Yeah, well," He said struggling to find his next words. "I'll volunteer next year."

"I still beat you." I told him.

"Hay, shut up." He responded feeling defeated. Yes, I win again.

"Guys, we're going to run out of time." Ares told the group. Ares then pulled out an emerald green notebook from his jacket pocket. "We got this, for you."

"For some reason, Ares kept on insisting we get the emerald coloured one." Nexus interrupted. But that made me think, did he feel the same way I did? Did he feel for me what I felt for him?

"I thought that was best." Ares said shyly. "Anyway, we want you to write about your adventures, so that when you come back, we can write stories about the young victor of two."

"Plus you love writing, don't you?" Aurora said.

"Thanks guys." I told them happily "I'll write down everything, then, I'll be back and we'll be playing again."

"You better not lose." Ares told me before the peacekeeper told them that their time was up. As all three of them left, I held the notebook close and tight to my chest. They believed in me, they all did. That's why I loved them so much.

**Lucifer Despar's POV**

"I've trained my whole life for this," I told my mom who was standing there worried about me. "I'll be fine, who's going to kill me? That little girl that volunteered with me? Some untrained tribute from twelve?"

"The other careers." My mom answered. She was worried, so worried about me that it hurt me just thinking about it.

"Don't worry mom," I said trying to make her feel better "I can take care of them, and if I can't, I can run away, I can run forty yards in just over four seconds, they won't catch me."

"But what if you get into a fight?" My mom asked "Your not going to be the strongest one out there." I couldn't think of that, the best thing I could tell me mom was

"Strength doesn't mean everything." It was at that moment that the peacekeeper guarding the room told her that her time was up. Mom left, dad entered.

"Son." Dad said proudly as he opened his arms and gave me a big huge which I returned. "I'm so proud of you boy."

"You made me into this." I told him happily "a future victor." That's exactly what he did. He pushed me and pushed me to train. But I knew that it wasn't just for him, it was for me as well. So that my future would be good, perfect maybe. I was going to prove that my dad was good trainer, that I was a good fighter, and bring glory to this family.

"I know that your life was uneventful," my dad told me "but you'll see that it was worth it when you win." I had known that for a long time. Most of my free time was spent training, and I had known that it would eventally make me a victor.

"The Draconix family isn't the only family that can win in District Two." I told my dad "other families can have victors here, like us." Their little girl wasn't going to stop me. With my experience and training, I would be the next victor. I wasn't the biggest, or the strongest, or even the smartest person in the world. But what matters, is how you put everything together. My dad and I broke free before looking at each other and smiling.

"You make me so proud." My dad told me. I had him to thank. If it weren't for him pushing me, I'd never have made it this far.

"All thanks to you dad." The peacekeeper then told dad that his time was up and he had to leave. Dad gave me one last farewell, then he left.

Next came my friends, first Thor, then Lan, then finally, Mikov. We talked about how I was going to be a victor, how I spent my life training for this. We joked about how that Draconix girl was too cocky for her own good, joked about life. Talked about what would happen if I didn't live. That scared me the most. What if...I didn't come back?

**District Three**

**Nessa Christine Johnston's POV**

"I'm so sorry Nessa." My mother cried "If only I were younger I'd volunteer for you." If only I hadn't been chosen. I couldn't go in there, there were eighteen year olds who trained for this, compared to them, I was nothing.

"I'm sorry for being reaped." I told her "if I hadn't-"

"You can't choose to be reaped or not," my mom told me still crying "it was just...bad luck." More then bad luck I thought. It was a miracle that I lived, it was the opposite to be reaped now. And from the look in my mother's eyes, she could tell it was the same.

"Mom," I asked her "I was a miracle right?" My mother wiped her nose on her shirt sleeve before answering

"Yes." I was born prematurely. I wasn't supposed to live. But here I am, living, right now.

"Well," I smiled "maybe another one will happen. Maybe I can get through the games." That seemed to make my mother feel better, because now she was smiling. She was still crying, but smiling at least.

"Maybe." My mother breathed "hopefully." It was then that the peacekeeper told her that her time was up. I didn't like to see my mother like that, but at the same time, I didn't want her to leave.

"I'll win mother!" I shouted to her as she was going to the door. She turned back and faced me as I shouted "I'll win! I'll come back home and show you that I am a miracle!" I saw my mother smile before my father entered the room and the door closed behind him. My father smiled at me before saying

"That's what we want to hear." Father then walked up to me before saying "you know, your mother wasn't that much older then you right now when you were born."

"I know." I told him. Mom was fourteen when I was born, that in a way something. "She's something alright."

"Yeah," my father said looking up to the roof. "She is."

"Father." My father looked at me before saying

"Yes?" Even though it was a long shot. Even though it was almost unheard of. Even though there were monsters in the barbaric games. Even though I was weak, unskilled, and not all the healthy. I said

"I will win. I will win. I will return. And we'll be together again."

**Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone's POV**

"I'll kill all of you!" I shouted at this whole fucking district. They thought they were safe from me just because I was in a straightjacket, blindfolded, and had a muzzle on!? They were wrong. I was going to come back here after the games, and murder each and every person who dared do anything to me. I felt things hitting my body. They were probably hard objects. I wouldn't know, I couldn't feel pain. I was never hurt in my life. Not when I was burned, not when I was stabbed. I never felt pain in my life. Not physically, not mentally. I didn't feel anything when I burned down my home, killing my parents and my younger siblings. I wasn't sorry. I did that so that I could live alone and do my hobby in peace. "Get over here!" I shouted at them " I dare you! I dare you! I dare you!" They wouldn't though, they were all too scared of me. And why shouldn't they? I was the reincarnation of a god. The ancient literature had described me perfectly, and what they described was a chained god of evil. A great god named Tharizdun. That's what I was, a god, not some boy called Zap.

"Go and die!" A voice shouted

"This is your retribution!" Another shouted

"Hope they spear your face off!" Another shouted. Weak. That's what they were, weak. Too scared to face me themselves, so they stayed in packs. Like a pack of rats running from anything that came too near. They couldn't stop me, nothing could. I. Am. Invincible. And when I came back. The first person to go would be that thirteen year old girl that ran away from me and told on me. I thought of how I was going to kill her as I got dragged away by those so called peacekeepers. Oh yes, she was going to pay.

**District Four**

**Evaline "Eva" Ellery's POV**

As I stood in the middle of the justice building, I thought of what I was going against. Real careers, not like me. District Four, a half career half non-career district. If only I was reaped last year, there were volunteers for those two reaped kids. Only if.

"Hi Eva." I heard a deep voice say. I looked over and saw my dad standing not twenty feet away from me. I looked over and smiled at him. He had made it. He got out of his depression, even just for a bit, to see me off.

"Hi dad." I responded. Ever since mom died, he hadn't been doing so well. I had to help him fish and everything. My father sighed and scratched the back of his head before saying

"I know I haven't been there for you and Macey lately, but I just want to say, I'm proud of both of you."

"Dad," I said not wanting him to go back to the former shell of himself "don't go back into depression, please take care of Macey."

"I'll try and get back to work." My dad told me. I knew it wasn't a guarantee but it was better then nothing. We then just stood here looking at each other until the peacekeeper told him it was time to leave.

Macey came in next. And I didn't know what to say to her.

"Eva!" She shouted to me sadly "Your coming back an't you!?" I didn't know how to tell her. I didn't think that I was coming back. But I couldn't tell her that could I? So I put on a fake face and lied.

"Of course I'm coming back." I said putting on a fake smile. I'll be strong in front of her at least. "I'll come back for you." Macey seemed to cheer up dramatically when she heard this.

"Really?" She said in extreme happiness. The smile on her face, the way her eyes lit up from my lie. I just couldn't tell her the truth now.

"Yeah." I told her kneeling down to match her hight. "But until I come back, make sure you take care of dad, don't let him slip back into depression."

"Ok," Macey told me "I'll try." I then leaned forward and gave Macey a big hug.

"I love you Macey." I told her. She was practically my life. I did everything for her. If my brother Timothy hadn't died, I'm sure he'd be here as well. Macey and I stayed with each other till the peacekeeper told us that out time was up and she needed to leave. I watched Macey exit the door while thinking that I was probably never going to see her again. That she was going to watch me die on T.V. But I wasn't going to let that happen, I was going to come back for her, no matter the cost.

The next person that came in was my best friend Flora. We've been best friends since I could remember. She ran up to me and wrapped me around in her arms, which I did the same with her.

"I'm sorry Eva." She said sadly "I'm sorry that you have to go through this."

"It's ok," I told her trying not to cry from both this and Macey's visit. "Better then someone else going."

"No, not it's not, unless you chose to go in its not."

"Flora-" I started

"Eva," Flora interrupted "win, just win, for everyone you care about, just, win." Flora then let go of me and held out a bronze fish shaped pin. I didn't want Ruby to get anymore upset then she already is, and Ryder didn't want to exchange any bad words with you." Ruby, Flora's little sister. Ryder, my neighbor. They should have just came, it would have meant a lot to me. "They all chipped in to get you this though, to remind you of your district, who you're fighting for, so you won't forget." She handed me the pin before I wrapped my right palm around it and squeezing it.

"I would never forget." I whispered. As the peacekeeper told Flora to get out, I couldn't help but think that I'd like one last swim in the river behind my house, to remember my mom by. Even if she drowned in it, it still held more good memories then bad ones.

**Shoney Germoal's POV**

The first person to enter the room was my older brother Galex. As soon as he entered the room he ran towards me and picked me up in a giant bear hug that nearly suffocated me. I was frightened so much that I screamed in a frightful voice for him to put me down. God he was powerful. Lucky for me he realized his mistake quickly and placed me back on solid ground. I hope he didn't break anything of mine.

"Well look at you now!" Galex shouted proudly "your one step closer to become a real career! Now all you have to do is show your skills to the other careers and hope that they'll let you in the career pack!"

"Hooray for me." I said dryly. If anything, it should be Galex here, not me, but I thought, what the heck, its not like any other time would be better. And I always wondered what it was like in the arena.

"Don't be that way Shoney," Galex cheerfully said smiling at me "you've trained for this, you should be happy, after all, you volunteered for this."

"Yeah," I said with as little emotion as possible "guess I did." I'm just wondering what the games are really like, that's all.

"Listen," My brother said grabbing my shoulders "you're going to win."

"What makes you think that?" I asked

"Because of this." My brother said before taking off his favorite leather bracelet and putting it around my left arm. "Now you'll have to return this when you come home." I didn't get it, he was always mom and dad's favorite, why was he treating me like this? "You will come home." He said fiercely.

"Guess I will." I told him feeling that he really thought that I could come home alive, and who knows, maybe I will. "Guess I will." I said for real this time.

**District Five**

**Alexander Natas's POV**

They hatted me because I'm an Albino. They loved to make fun of me because of my white hair and red eyes. That fucking warden placed me in a cage and charged people to look at me. Those bullies, the warden, just about everyone in this district had done something to me. I wanted to kill them all in the most painful way possible. I wanted their blood to cover the streets of District Five. Nobody would be safe from me once I returned, not the men, not the women, not the children. They all contributed to my suffering, they can all be victims of it. Then after I killed them all, I'd set this whole damn district ablaze and watch the flames eat everything in its path. I felt myself smile as I thought of the bloody carnage I'd create. Yes, that was a delightful thought.

I heard the door behind me open and heard a deep voice shout

"Hey freak! You've got a visitor!" Who'd come to visit me? Whoever it was I'd kill them. For now, I was immune, they couldn't kill a tribute before the games. How wonderful, a warm up victim before the games start. I turned around and saw the only person in this world that I didn't want to kill. The one that really talked to me and listened to me. Gabriel Ann Gel.

"Alex." He said as the door behind him slammed shut.

"What do you want?" I asked harshly. Even though he was maybe, just maybe my only friend, I still didn't trust him. He was with them, he was part of them. But even through all that, he was the only person that mattered to me. The only person that cared for me since my parents died when I was six.

"I want to know if you're ok." Gabriel told me. Shocker.

"I'm having some nice thoughts to calm me down," I told him while slowly walking to him "I'm thinking of how many people were going to die if I come back." I told him "wouldn't that be a great sight? All that red running down the streets? That's your favorite colour isn't it? Red?" Gabriel looked like he didn't know what to say. But that didn't matter, he never really knew what to say.

"Alex," Gabriel said not even looking at me "I'm going to miss you and all, but I just have to say that, even though the games make you kill other kids." Gabriel took a pause before saying "try not to lose the humanity this district took away from you." I didn't know if it was the right thing to do, but I didn't care. I leaned towards Gabriel and kissed him. Gabriel seemed started at that because he backed away from me quickly. He then looked at me with shock and confusion in his eyes.

"That's what normal people do when they're going to miss someone that means something to them right?" I asked not knowing if Gabriel would answer or not. He just seemed too in shock to answer for some reason.

"Ok you!" A peacekeeper shouted from the entrance of this room. "Time's up! Time to go!" I then saw him walk to up Gabriel and grab him by the shoulder and start forcing him away from me. I wanted to break his arm to stop him from taking the only person who mattered to me. So long Gabriel Ann Gel I thought. Hope you live long enough to see this district run red with the people's blood.

**Valerie Snake's POV**

"But daddy," I screamed at him because of this unfairity "why did I have to be chosen!? Why couldn't someone else be chosen!?" My daddy sighed stupidly before saying

"Because you were the one chosen, there's nothing anyone can do about that."

"Well why didn't she just choose someone else!?" I exclaimed. It's simple, all they needed to do was either choose another name or someone volunteered for me. "I mean, she could have just chosen someone else right?" Daddy sighed again. I hated when he did that, he did it often for some reason. Being the mayor I guess was stressful, but did he have to do it so often?

"You can only not go into the games if someone volunteers for you." He told me.

"Well then why didn't anyone volunteer for me!?" I asked. I was never meant to be chosen anyway, why did life have to be so unfair?

"You can't ask a person to volunteer for you." Daddy said again

"But you could have bribed them." I told him. I just didn't understand what was going through his head at the time, it was so obvious what to do. But at the moment, all he did was do the annoying sigh he always did.

**Valerie Snake's dad's POV (BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT)**

What did I do to deserve this I thought. Why couldn't my only daughter just accept what was happening without making a fuss? I better get out of here before she started to have a temper tantrum that was as bad as her when she was six years old. I think that hit to the head affected her a bit.

"Time's up!" The peacekeeper that hit her over the head shouted. Perfect timing.

**District Six**

**Ricky Coler's POV**

"Ricky," my mom cried out as she held me in her loving arms "why did it have to be you!?" It's just the way it is mom.

"It happened." I told her returning her hug. I could tell that she couldn't bare to see her only son go into the games. But it happened to someone every year.

"Don't die will you." My mom begged to me.

"I won't." I whispered to her. Her time then ran out and she was forced to retreat from me. Then dad came in and he acted the same way as mom, sad. But at least he wasn't crying and hugging me. I was going to miss both of them, after all, what were my odds of coming back?

**Rayne Page's POV**

The first person to come forward to say goodbye to was my older sister. Good luck was all she said when she entered. Thanks was all I replied to her before the room fell with silence. That bitch didn't say anything after that and just played with her fake red hair while staring at the ceiling and tapping her foot, like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world. I really hated her, she falls in love with the idiots in this district before getting pregnent and having abortions with her unborn kids. Pitiful. I hate her so much. Then at last, her time was up. Thank god, I couldn't stand the sight of her.

The next person that came in was my brother. This was a surprise. He was never around me a lot.

"Hi bro." I said to him wondering what he was doing here. Was he here to be like older sis and just say good luck or don't die?

"Hi Rayne," he said sadly. He then walked up to me and presented me with a black leather bracelet with a fine wooden charm attached to it. "Rayne," he said placing it around my arm "you have to win this, you just have to." I then felt sadness creep up on me. He thought that I was going to win. It made me feel sad that he had that much faith in me. As he tightened the bracelet around my arm I felt like crying. And just as quickly as he came, he left. Did he not want to spend more time with me then necessary? Or was that all he needed to say? I didn't even get to think about that, because now I saw my father and my little sister Zlata. Seeing them, especially Zlata, looking at with sadness in their eyes, looking as if they were going to cry made me lose it. I have almost never cried in my life. I have more fingers on one hand then the number of times I've cried in the seventeen years of my life. But this was just too much for me, seeing father and Zlata there looking at me like they were going to lose me was just too much for me. My father hugged my around my body while five year old Zlata could only hug my leg. That was all the comfort I needed from them. We stayed like that till the peacekeeper dragged us apart.

The next person to enter was my only friend, Zee. I hatted the freckles around her nose, but right now, it comforted me just to know that she had came here to say her goodbyes. She looked shocked to see me in my current state, but that was understandable, she had never seen me like this. And seeing father, Zlata, and Zee, I thought of what my brother said, that I had to win. And I was now going to win, so I could come back to them.

**District Seven**

**Sami Lavisa's POV**

Dad was "too busy" as my nine year old twins told me. Knowing dad, he probably didn't want to say goodbye to me. That was understandable, who'd want to say goodbye to someone forever? I didn't want to say goodbye to Gracie and Jhono who were talking about what they were going to do when I got home from the games. They said that I might surprise people with my smartness. They said that I'd be smart enough to survive the games. But that was most likely untrue.

"Hey big sis," Jhono called out to me. I looked at him and smiled wondering what he was going to say "you will come back won't you?" I didn't know how to tell him that I wasn't going to come back, that I wasn't going to live through those horrendous games. I didn't want to tell him that. So I picked him up and nodded my head. He seemed happy about that, because he then presented me with a braided bracelet with three strings. One string was black, another white, the last one was a tan colour. "This is for you." Jhono told me as I used my free hand to take hold of it.

"It's meant to represent the three of us." Gracie told me as she pointed to the black string.

"That's Jhono because he's the bad one in the family."

"No!" Jhono screamed out "I'm white! Your black! I'm the good one!"

"I'm white!" Gracie screamed out at Jhono

"I'm white!" Jhono shouted at Gracie. I pointed to the tan one to try and soothe out the current situation, those two always fought, it was up to me to defuse it.

"That tan rope's you!" The two of them told me in unison. The three ropes they handed to me, they were made to symbolize us together. It was a powerful symbol. I felt like crying when I thought of it. I had raised them ever since mom got too sick to take care of them. And dad's too busy to take care of them. The two of them really only had me to take care of them along with each other. How would they react when one of those strings broke? I picked up Gracie and held the two of them in my arms. The two of them were getting too heavy for me to pick up and hold, but this could be the last time I held them. And I was going to make the most of it.

**Bo Heatherfield's POV**

The Hunger Games. The killer games. The murder games. That's what they were to me, just one, big, killfest. That's where I'll be in a few days time. I don't want to kill anyone, and I don't plan on doing it. I'll hide, I'll hide until everyone has died fighting each other or died of other means. But I hope I'll never have to kill somebody.

I heard the doors burst open as I saw Floopy run across the room and fling herself onto me and nearly made me fall over. For a fourteen year old girl with little muscle, this surprised me.

"Bo!" She cried out as I stumbled and regained my footing after a couple of steps. "Why did it have to be you that got picked!?" Because it was my fate? I looked at her and saw tears spilling out of those green eyes of hers. Seemed like everyone was crying today. Me, that Sami girl, now her. I looked away before she started screaming out "why did it have to be you!?" I don't know, why did it have to be me? Why couldn't it have been someone else? She then kept on going how it was unfair that I had been chosen instead of any other person. But why did it have to be anyone anyway?

When her time was up, the peacekeeper had to drag her out because she refused to leave. But the peacekeeper finally managed to pry her off me before dragging her out of the room I was in. The next person to enter was Luke.

"I'm sorry about all this." Luke said looking at me and around the room. "I should have volunteered for you." No, you shouldn't have, you did the right thing by staying quiet. I wouldn't want you to be sent to your death. You're like a brother to me, and it would have pained me for you to lay your life for me. "I'm just, sorry for not being for you there more." I shook my head at him and smiled. You've done enough for me already Luke. You may be muscular, but could you fight like careers? I don't think so. Besides, he had to take care of Floopy. Jimmy couldn't do it himself, because Floopy's a very stubborn girl. Only Luke has the energy for her. "I mean, how will you survive?" I then covered his eyes with my hand, telling him that I'd hide from their sight. But Luke didn't get it and said that he wanted to see me. Then he started trying to comfort me by patting my back and telling me it was going to be alright. That all I needed to do was kill the last tribute if I played my cards right. But I didn't even want to think about killing. When his time was up, he patted me on the back one last time before saying good luck and leaving, but not before I saw him holding back tears in his golden eyes.

The next person to enter was my adopted father, Jimmy. He had taken me in because he was my family's friend, and that's what friends do I guess, take care of each other.

"Hi Bo." He said to me through his thick beard. I nodded to him. He looked like he wanted to cry, but he was holding it in. "I'm sorry that this happened to you." I'm sorry that this happened to me too. Jimmy sighed before saying "You know Bo, ever since your family died of sickness and I took you in, you've become like a son to me." Like Luke? "Like Luke." Jimmy said like he was reading my mind. I smiled. For someone almost sixty, he did a lot of work raising Luke, Floopy and I. "So it pains me to see you off." I pause came before he said yet again "I'm sorry."

"Sorry." I whispered to him. His eyes then shot up like I had done something amazing. But then the peacekeeper told him to get out because they were on a tight schedule. I then saw tears flow from Jimmy's eyes, and that was the last thing I saw from him. "Sorry." I whispered again. I'm sorry.

**District Eight**

**Dav Ander's POV**

"I shouldn't have been reaped." I told Ronald "I shouldn't have been reaped." Why couldn't have been someone else? It should have been someone lower then me, but no, it had to be me. Why!?

"But it happened." Ronald told me

"I know that stupid," I spat at him "why do you think I'm here."

"Well your aunt Mia is happy for you," he told me "she thinks that this will make you into a man or something."

"Do I look like I care what Mia thinks?" I asked him. How could she think this was good for me? I was never supposed to be chosen, this shouldn't have happened.

"You could at least care a little," Ronald told me "I mean, she did take you in when your parents divorced and neither wanted you."

"True." I told him. Aunt Mia did take me in when my loser parents didn't. And I was glad for that, mom and dad were poor, so they could never get me what I wanted. Aunt Mia was rich, she could get me the stuff I wanted. "But fuck, what could possible make me a better person in the games?" That's what I thought, what did Aunt Mia think would happen to me in there?

"I don't know Dav." Ronald told me not knowing the answer as well "I don't know."

**December Juliet "Ember" Varen's POV**

Why did it have to be me? Why couldn't it have been someone else? Maybe this was what my ancestors up above cooked up for me. My father stole from a merchant, so maybe because of that shame, higher up powers wanted to pay him back. He was now a peacekeeper in District Three, he wouldn't even know about me going until it showed me on T.V. How would he act? How would he take it? I wouldn't know, because he could never see me again anyway. What was he thinking about? Was he wondering if I got reaped? Was he thinking about mom? Or was he thinking about pretty daughter June? I came out of my trance when Kastin came through the doors.

"Kastin!" I called to her waving my hands to her. Kastin saw me and ran up to me.

"How are you?" She asked shyly.

"Not good," I told her truthfully "I'm about to be sent into the games, the thing I hate most in this world." Kastin looked down looking embarrassed that she even asked. Maybe that wasn't the best choice of words.

"I'm sorry." Kastin whispered.

"No, I'm sorry." I told her. "It's just, I'm going to go into the games and such."

"Yeah, sorry about that too." Kastin and I talked for a little while until her time was up.

Next came in Maura.

"Boy!" She shouted suddenly "What bad luck to have been picked!"

"Your telling me." I sighed, why did it have to be me?

"Why do they even have the Hunger Games anyway?"

"Because they feel like it?" I told her, even though I didn't know the full answer. The Capital said it was punishment for the first rebellion, but was that all it really was?

"Is that all?" She asked. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know.

"Well, I hope you make it back here, We're going to miss you."

"I'll miss you all too." I told her. She then looked surprised before she held out her hand and I saw something black in it. I screamed loudly as I saw what it was. It was a spider! I fell down and backed away quickly. But all Maura was doing was laughing.

"What's so funny!?" I shouted in fright as I looked at the spider in her palm.  
Its fake." Maura laughed as she dropped the black spider down, that's when I noticed it was plastic.

"That was a cheap trick!" I shouted to her, angry at her cheap trick. "You know I hate those things!"

"Well," Maura said with a smug smile while helping me to my feet "I won't know if I'll see you again, so I've got to make the most of it." By the time she helped me up, her time was up and she had to leave.

"That was a cheap trick!" I shouted back to her as her and Jackson passed each other. Jackson looked at her before facing me.

"What was that all about?" He asked curiously

"Fake spider." I told him.

"I see." He replied.

"Why did she do that?" I asked "she knows I'm deathly frightened by them.

"Well, you know her." Jackson told me. Yeah, I did, she was like that, not all the time, but still. Jackson and I talked until his time was up and he had to leave. But before that happened, he gave me the bracelet that we had made when we were twelve. We made it to give to the one that got reaped, if we got reaped. It had three charms on it. One was a small white and green china button with swirls and a small hole in it to fit a chain through it. That was made by Kastin. The second charm was a star painted with green and white strips. The third charm was simple, red metal star. It brought back memories of when we were twelve. When we were invincible from the reapings. When we were all alone, together. Now it was going to be all gone for me. Why? Why did this have to happen?

Then an unexpected sight occurred. I saw my sister, June. What was she doing here?

"What does miss perfect want?" I asked her. But then I saw her start to sob. Why? Didn't she hate me? "Why are you crying?" I asked.

"Because I'm sorry, that's why." June told me still crying. She walked up to me and gave me a big hug. "I'm sorry that I treated you like shit." She said to me "I really do love you, even if I never really showed it."

"You never really showed it." I told her. After all, she was the one that mom and dad liked most. Because she was better looking and better at sports then me.

"I know." She whispered "I know, and I'm sorry." We then broke apart. I saw her eyeing something. I followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at the bracelet. What did she want with it? I then saw her look at her right hand before lifting it up and pulling off a silver ring with an emerald on it. Something that mom had given her as a present. She pulled the ring off her pinky finger, took hold of the bracelet, and put it on the bracelet chain. Why was she doing this? She never acted this way before. "Bring it back when you win." She told me looking at me square in the eyes.

"How?" I asked "how can I win?" June shrugged.

"I don't know." She told me. And how could she, you'd never know what would happen in the games. "Your the smart one, I'm sure you can think of something."

**District Nine**

**Talliana Messine's POV**

I never thought that I'd be reaped. I never even gave a thought about it. I never signed up for tesserae or anything. Guess it was just bad luck that I got picked.

The first person to walk into the room was my mother. The person who works even when she isn't supposed to. She does her job as a homemaker, then helps out the district when she has free time, she was always busy. I don't know if it was because she was a person that wanted to help around, or because she wanted to make some extra money. Either way, it was her decision, and I didn't mind that she did what she liked doing. She told me that she was saddened by me getting reaped, she said that I had a better chance of not getting reaped because I never signed up for tesserae. But luck wasn't on my side this year.

"It's not your fault mom," I told her while trying to get her to relax "you did everything you could, things just, happened." She really did everything she could. Because of her and dad working, I never had to sign up for tesserae. Mom then asked about how she was going to live without me. Who was going to look after my seven year old brother and sister when her and dad were at work? And how was she going to live knowing that doing everything she could wasn't good enough? "Hey," I told me trying to cheer her up again "look at it this way, if I win, we'll never have to work again." That seemed cheer her up before her time was up. I couldn't stand to see her like that, I'm glad I made her feel better before she left.

The next person to come in was my dad. Being an owner of a small factory, he didn't have to work as much as mom, but he worked a lot to make sure that I never had to sign up for tesserae. We talked for a bit until our time was up. My seven year old siblings came in next. If I won, Wynter and Fyntrain would never have to worry about signing up for tesserae, we'd live a life of luxury.

"Hey sis." Wynter said "we've got something for you." She then presented me with a white plastic anklet.

"We made that for you." Fyntrain told me. I looked at the simple made anklet before looking to my siblings and smiled at them.

"Thanks." I told them before hugging both of them. It wasn't much, but they brought this for me, and I couldn't be happier with them. Then their time was up.

The next people to come in were my friends. One at a time, they told me that when I came back, they were going to hold a huge welcome back party for me. And it wasn't going to be a small party where we only hold once in a while, where five or ten of us have to chip in small amounts of money each for our little so called party, but a huge party. A real party. I'd like that. I really would. If I could get through my worst nightmare first.

**Arrowe Winter's POV**

"Why'd you volunteer!?" My mom shouted both angrily and sadly to me. I could see that behind all that rage she was pushing towards me, was sadness. "Why'd you have to lay down your life!?" She continued to shout at me.

"Mom," I started explaining to her "I thought this through, I know what I'm doing." I had a plan, a good one, one that was bound to work in one way or another. Well, maybe not. But it was a risk worth taking. High risk can equal high reward if played right.

"You sent yourself into a death sentence!" Mom screamed to me "I know your a risk taker but this has gone too far!"

"No I haven't mom." I told her "I'm not, I've got a great plan and it's going to work." I wanted to explain my plan to her, but she cut me off by placing her hand over my mouth, silencing me.

"You just don't know when to quit don't you." My mom said quietly "you think this will set a good example for your sister?" Fay. Sixteen year old Fay. She'd never do such a thing, volunteer. When mom removed her hand from my mouth, I told her

"She'd never volunteer, she knows better."

"What if your plan goes well and she thinks that she can do the same thing?" The shock hit me, I'd never thought of that. That's when the peacekeeper told my mom that her time was up. But before she left, she told me not to end up like dad. Dad, he liked taking risks too, but that's what lead to his downfall. To take a shortcut while walking in the mountains, he took a dangerous path, and got his food stuck between two rocks, and starved to death. It was days before anyone found him. Dad.

The next person to come in was my older brother Transton. People say that we look a lot like each other. Maybe, I was around him so much that I didn't notice. But if there was one thing that I did notice, it was that he didn't have one black eye and one green eye. He only had bright green. Unlike me.

"What's up bro?" He asked. He tried not to sound worried, but he couldn't fool me. I knew what he sounded like when he was worried.

"Nothing much," I told him calmly, trying not to make him worry so much "just putting my genius plan into action." Transton looked curious when he heard that.

"And what is your genius plan?" He asked wondering what my plan was. I was glad he asked, I didn't have a chance to tell mom why I vollunteered, and I knew that Transton would understand. I then told him my plan with great detail. Mostly, only careers volunteer, and they're recognized throughout the Capital. The same with some other volunteers, like in the seventy fourth hunger games, that Katniss girl. My plan was to volunteer and act confident, and that in turn would get people to recognize me, and in turn, that would gain me sponsors.

"Plus I like taking risks." I told him at the end.

"So I've noticed." He said while smiling. He then shook his head side to side while still smiling.

"You're one crazy bastard you know that?"

"So I've been told." I then saw him take off one of his earrings. A small golden hoop with a small onyx stone dangling from it. He unhooked it from his ear before passing it over to me.

"That's your token," He told me "remember us while your drowning in sponsors." I don't know if he meant that literally, but when he said drowning, I couldn't keep the fear out from my mind. Drowning. "Oh hay hay hay." He said apologetically "sorry, I forgot that you fear, you know."

"It's ok," I told him "you forgot."

"Time's up!" A voice shouted. That peacekeeper.

"Fay sends her love." Transton told me while leaving "she said that she shouldn't say goodbye to you, because your coming back." And while the door closed, I thought of Fay. She had so much confidence that I could win. Knowing that, I felt as if she had said it to me in person.

**District Ten**

**Max Starling's POV**

"Why did I have to be chosen?" I asked my dad who was standing in front of me in the justice building. "Why did I have to be chosen? I don't want to go into the games, it's scary. I'm only thirteen, I don't stand a chance against those eighteen year olds or the careers. I can't go against them, I'll die. Why me?"

"It just happened Max." My dad told me "you got picked and that's how it is." Yeah, that's how it is, someone has to be picked every year. But why did this year's tribute have to be me?

"How can I go against those other tributes? That Life Lee doesn't look like much, but she's older then me, in fact, I think all the other tributes are going to be older, and bigger, and stronger then I am. It's not fair, why couldn't an older kid have chosen? Why-"

"Be quiet Max! Stop crying!" My dad shouted at me. I was so surprised that I did stop. I looked at him as he shouted at me "Complaining won't change anything! I don't want to hear another complain from your god damn mouth! God, if you mother heard you I don't know how she'd react." Mom, she died birth giving birth to me. Why did she have to go? It seemed that because of her death, my life wasn't as good as it should have been. I started to cry harder just thinking about her. I've never seen her in person, only in pictures, how would I know how she'd feel? Dad took a long, hard sigh before talking to me again. "Look son," he started to tell me in a calmer voice "I'm sorry for over reacting, but you just can't change stuff like this."

"Yeah," I said to him understanding "I understand." Just like how I was here and mom wasn't, I couldn't change that. "It's just that, I don't want to go into the games. I'll be killed out there."

"Max, if there's one thing that you can do better then other kids, its that you can go a long time without food."

"Yeah!" I shouted feeling instantly better. Now that I thought about it, if there's one thing that the careers can't do, its go hungry. If they go hungry, they get weak. "Yeah, I can out starve the others! And then when their all weak and tired, I can easily kill them, and if I'm lucky, I won't even have to do that." I saw my dad smile at me

"That's what I want to hear, you in high spirits again." I then saw my dad reach into his coat pocket and pull out a small piece of tree bark. He handed it to me, and I took it. "When you're in the games, take out this piece of bark, and think of home, think of your mom."

"Yeah." I told him thinking about mom "mom wouldn't have wanted me to die. She gave me life, I can't shame her for that. Dad, I'll win, and I won't shame mom's death for giving birth to me. I won't waste her sacrifice." Then with as much confidence as I could build up, I told him "I will win, for mom."

**Life Lee's POV**

"Life!" I heard Laurel shout from the door way. I looked at her through the tears in my eyes. Every year on this day, she had to see kids get reaped. Now this year, it was me, and to make it worse, today was Laurel's birthday. She ran up to me before grabbing me around my body. "Don't die!" She cried "Please don't die!" Dying, I've had enough death for a lifetime, and yet, fate just had plans for me. Just like they had plans for my whole family. First was my sister, Faerie. My sister who I'd play with, swinging her around my her knees until we were both red faced and tan from the sun. But then one day, when we were playing, our horse, Den, toke the life out of her. Old Den stomped on my sister, dislocating everything that was in her body. I remembered the sound of the hooves hitting her. Twenty four times he hit her, then on the twenty fifth, ended her life when he crushed her skull with a sickning wet crunch.

"Why did it have to be you?!" Laurel cried out. Yes, why did it have to be me today. And why did it have to be Papa that died earlier. The man that would let us ride on his back and play tag with my sister and I if he wasn't busy working. But then things took a turn for the worst, Papa died by getting shot. Twenty four times bullets entered his body, then the twenty fifth entered the back of his skull. And for what? Grandma died around the same time as he did. But at least she died of natural causes. She had lived her life. But Grandpa was too full of sorrow to go without her, so he found a way to take the pain away. Somehow, he managed to get a supply of morphine, and started to feed on it. Papa and I found his body, yellow and pussing on his bed. Guess how many needles he used. Twenty five.

"How will I live without you!?" Laurel cried. I then wrapped my arms around her body as I thought of Mama. I didn't like grandpa because he was a shady man. How else could he have gotten that morphine? But Mama tolerated him. She loved all of us, and she didn't stop caring about us until the day she died. The doctors told us that she died of cancer, whatever that was. And when the doctors said that she only had a limited time to live, they sent her into isolation. Isolation without food. Then next time we saw her body, she was full of maggots and flies. They said it was from the cancer. But I knew that it was from starvation. And that forever left a hole in my heart that's never been filled. She was gone but not forgotten, that's why I wore the faded blue dress she made me, even though it is a bit too tight, and I also wore her old work boots and her old jacket. To remember her.

"You have to come back," Laurel cried "even if it's just for me, you have to come back." Laurel, the little girl I've taken care of, like a little sister. "Like all those stories you used to tell me, we could be like princesses and fall in love, and be happy. We could run away together. We can be happy, can't you see? We can be happy forever. Please, just come home." And there I stood, embracing Laurel. She just reminded me so much of my sister, Faerie. I then started to silently pray that I'd come back for her. Suddenly, she started praying as well. I hated that I couldn't think of anything to say, I only cried harder as I thought, why didn't I see that I was still loved all this time?

**District Eleven**

**Angel Hale's POV**

"Hide, that's what you can do." My two sisters told me. They managed to convince the peacekeeper to let them both in at once so that they could both say goodbye to me. At least they came to say goodbye, I knew that dad wouldn't want to say goodbye to me, even before they told me that he didn't care if I didn't make it back or not.

"But I can't hide forever," I told them thinking of the sick traps that might be in the games. "If there's not enough fighting going on, they'd send something in or something."

"Well then move away when that happens."

"No," I told them sarcastically "I'm just going to stay there and wait to be mauled by mutts or burn to death by fire."

"Well, I'm sure you'll think of something, your both brave and smart." I smiled at them.

"That I am."

"Hay, do you still have-"

"This?" I said holding up the bracelet with mom's name engraved in it.

"Yeah." They said looking at the bracelet

"Don't worry," I told them "I'll survive, mom's death won't be in vain." And then, their time was up. I was going to win so that we could live, we wouldn't have to relay on dad anymore. We could live without starvation. We could live without the abuse from dad. I would make mom's spirit proud.

Next up was Katie, one of my best friends. We talked how we were going to miss each other and how life wouldn't be the same without each other. Then came Samantha, my other best friend. She told me she was going to miss me and I told her the same.

"What will you do for the games?" She asked "you can't fight head on with the other tributes, especially the careers." Of course not, they'd kill me.

"I'm not going to fight them," I told her before explaining my plan to her "I'm going to hide until there's only two of us left, then kill the last tribute when they least expect it."

"If it works that way." She told me. Yeah, the gamemakers will make that difficult. "So, you going to team up with that Aerin or something guy? He looks like he can handle himself in a fight." He did, he looked strong and all, but he was still only the same age as me. Could he handle a fight against an older tribute? Or a career?

"I don't know." I told her "if I'm going to hide, wouldn't allies just slow me down?"

"Hay, allies might help protect you though."

"Yeah," I told her "yeah they might." But what if one of them betrays me?

**Aerin Sevani's POV**

With two parents, one older brother, one older sister, one younger brother, and two younger sisters, it was a place of sadness. I was leaving, and they wouldn't know if I was coming back or not. But dispite this sad moment, they gave lots of encouragement to me, they told me I was going to make it because I was strong and knew how to use some weapons expertly. I told them I was going to make it, I was going to make it through for them. Because being poor in District Eleven with eight people in a family is hard to live on. With the winnings I'd get, we'd never go hungry again. We could afford enough food to never be hungry again, with some to spare. With the winnings, we could hire people to work on our farm, and pay them well, then at least they won't be hungry. Same with their families, and who knows, maybe that money will spread. Yeah, winning would increase the well being of not only my family, but other families as well. That was a throught to keep.

"Your coming back arn't you?" My six year old younger sister Cassie asked looking at me with sadness in her eyes, I didn't want to leave her, or anyone else. But I had to, having even one family member go was going to be hard on the family.

"Yes," I told her smiling down on her "and when I do, we'll never be hungry, we'll be living the good life." Living in District Eleven is hard, even when you sign for tesserae, because sometimes, you don't even get it. And my older brother, he can't even sign up for tesserae anymore, making it even harder for us. He may be safe from the reapings, but that doesn't mean he's safe from starvation. But at least he's safe from the reapings. And since he's of age, he can work on better paying jobs. If you could even call them better paying jobs.

"The good life." Cassie repeated while perhaps thinking of the good life. But then her time was up and she got escorted away from me. While she was walking away, I shouted that I'd do everything in my power to come back to her. I was going to come back, for her, for my parents, for my brothers and sisters too.

"Tell them I'll be coming back!" I shouted to her as the door closed behind her.

Next came one of my best friends, Ben. We talked about what was going to happen. He told that because I was strong, I was going to win. He also said that I wasn't as strong or skilled as a career, but I was better at starvation then them. Which was true, most of the times when the careers lost, it was because the cornucopia got destroyed or something killed their food. Maybe being from here would give me a huge advantage against the careers.

Next up came Thorn, my other best friend. And much like Ben, we talked about what was going to happen. But not about the games, about the district. What was going to happen to my family and such. I told him that I was going to win for them. The headband around my head that was made out of brown cloth was going to remind me that I needed to win for them, so that they could live the good life that they always wanted.

**District Twelve**

**Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

"They don't want to say goodbye to you," my older brother, Hale, told me as sat down beside me "because they believe that saying goodbye isn't necessary, because you'll make it back." Did they really think that about me? Sure I could do things, but did they really think that I could make it out of the games?

"Did they really say that?" I asked wondering if they really said that.

"Yep." My older brother told me. "They think you're invincible. I mean, because of what you do, and you do get away with it." He was talking about me stealing. I stole things from peacekeepers and the mayor, then sold them to people at the black market. If you could even call it a black market. Basically it was just a small gathering of other people in the district doing illegal things, and people willing to pay for their goods. I heard that around sixty-five years ago, it was easier to do illegal trading, till the districts rebelled. Now it was just a pitiful gathering in the ruins of the firebombing. No body bothered to try and repair the site of the previous black market, or what used to be called the hob.

"Only because I'm not caught." I told him "they should know that." If I were to ever get caught, I would get whipped till they could see my spine. And I couldn't afford that, I had a family to take care of. Three younger siblings. And Matthew, my twin brother.

Then there was Hale, my older brother, who was safe from the reapings but still wasn't safe from everything else that happened in the district. Who got crippled from the accident that killed mom and dad.

"That's why they think your invincible." He told me "because you never get caught. And because of that time with Tara." Tara. I took a knife wound to the shoulder for her. Some jerk thought that she had stolen food from her. She got so mad that she pulled out a knife and was about to slash her across the neck, but I jumped in the way and took the slash to the left shoulder, leaving a scar that never healed. It was a good thing that a group of peacekeepers saw what had happened, otherwise who knows how it would have turned out. The merchant got whipped for assaulting me, after that, she left us alone.

"Let's hope I'm invincible enough to make it back eh."

"Yeah." Matthew said sighing with worry. "Do you have a token?" He asked.

"Yeah." I told him before showing him my ankle bracelet. "To remind me of you guys." It wasn't much, but it was my token, and I will remember them with this anklet.

Silence then fell over us for a couple of seconds before I told him "I won't lose, I can't afford to." Then at that moment, his time was up, and the peacekeeper took hold of his wheelchair and helped wheel him out of the building. I can't lose I repeated to myself. I just can't. Not with my family at stake.

**Colin Aldrin's POV**

I had this in the bag. I was going to win. I had a great plan and it wasn't going to fail.

A/N: Ah man, I thought this was never going to get done.  
I'm sorry if some tributes goodbyes are longer then others, by the time I got to District Four I realized how long it'd take to finish all this, forever. Yeah, sorry Colin, but, I'm just not in the mood to do your goodbye.

In other news, tell me how I did with your tribute. I need you to tell me how I can improve them. And I didn't go into too much detail, because it would have taken forever. And tell truthfully, I'd prefer the harsh truth to a nice lie.  
And I'm also glad that all of you enjoyed the reapings, except YOU. You know who you are. All well, can't win em all.

Vote on the poll, we've got a three way tie going on.

Now some very important news, TELL ME IF I DID SOMETHING WRONG! This probably wasn't a good chapter for many reasons. But what I'm talking about here is spelling, I only did some basic editing because I didn't feel like going back through all this, so yeah, tell me what I did and I'll go fix it in time.

Oh yes, I can't wait to do the interviews...not. I'll think of an easier, but still good, way to do those.


	6. Train rides part 1

A/N: Don't be alarmed by the change of my username. I was darkwolf127 if any of you are confused.

District 3's Nessa Christine Johnston's POV

Here I stood in this train which was even more beautiful then even the justice building, which was the best looking building in the district, it was breathtaking. The silver coloured walls, the clear glass tables with gold frames, the shiny glass windows that gave the perfect view outside. It was a wonderful sight. And to make it better, there was a huge table filled with food and drinks that I've never even seen before. As soon as I saw the food in front of me I couldn't help but start eating it. Oh god, this food was so good it was unbelievable. I just wanted to stuff myself on all this food. As much as I wanted to just eat with my hands and eat as fast as I could, I remained civilized and ate with a fork and knife. But even so, I still ate too fast and occasionally chocked on a piece of meat or a chunk of fruit and had to hack it out of my throat. But as soon as that was over, I forgot all about it and started eating again.

"At least your acting civilized." My half green half red haired escort told me before turning to the giant surrounded by five active peacekeepers in white. "Unlike someone." I looked towards Tharizdun, or as he was better known as, the collector, and saw him trying to eat soft food by forcefully sliding it through his metal face muzzle. He was still restrained by the straightjacket he was wearing and was still blindfolded, so looking at him eat would have been funny, if it weren't him. This person had a confirmed count of killing twenty seven girls in the district. But he wouldn't kill them at first, I heard that he kidnapped them before raping them, then he chooses a body part from her, rips it off of her, then rips her throat out. The only reason he was caught was because his last victim, victim number twenty eight, escaped and told the peacekeepers. He was then thrown into solitary confinement. I would be happy that he got thrown into the games, if only I wasn't in the arena with him. I was a girl, and I was within his twelve to fifteen year old limit. For all I knew, he could do the same to me, I could be confirmed victim number twenty eight. But that wouldn't happen, no, I was going to stay as far away from him as possible in the arena. And here in the train, he was surrounded by peacekeepers, he couldn't hurt me with them around even if he wanted to. The sight of him savagely trying to eat made my appetite fall and I placed my plate down on my lap. Maybe I'd eat later when my appetite comes back.

"Who's that?" I heard his voice say through his metal muzzle making his voice sound even more evil then it already was. "I don't think I've heard that voice before."

"That's your escort." A young peacekeeper told him in a not so nice manner. Some how, I don't think they'll ever be nice to him. And why would they?

"Can I see her?" The collector asked "I want to see her, want to see her, want to see her, want to see her." Why did he repeat words like that? Was it because he wasn't totally sane?

"No." The young peacekeeper told him harshly. Good, he wouldn't be able to see me as well.

"Well then," the collector asked "can you at least remove this annoying muzzle of yours so I can eat?" I could tell that he was smiling behind the muzzle from the way he was talking. But why was he smiling? There was no reason to smile. Was there?

"So you can eat?" The young peacekeeper laughed "eat what? The food or us?" What was so funny about that? "You're not fooling us Zap." I then saw the giant leap to his feet to face the general direction of the young peacekeeper that spoke to him.

"My name is Tharizdun you dumb ass!" He shouted. The young peacekeeper backed away, only for the other four to take his place ready to attack at a moments notice. Even though there was four of them, the collector easily towered over all them. Making him look scarier then he already was. Why did I have to be with him? Or all people, why him? At least those peacekeepers kept him in place.

"Sit down!" An older peacekeeper ordered before all five peacekeepers forcefully shoved him back down into his seat. I started to start eating again to stop my hands from shacking. Being hyper and scared wasn't a good combination. But at least I wasn't the collector right now. Heh, at I could eat and not be pushed around, unlike him. I was in a good spot right now. Unlike him.

"Do any of you people want to see the reapings?" Our escort asked us. Even though it was more nice then before, I could still hear an edge in her voice. "I certainly do, I wonder what what the others had to go through and what kind of tributes they picked."

"Does it really matter?" Ampf Tressel, our male mentor asked. He won nine years ago making him the winner of the one hundred and thirtieth hunger games. He was only twenty six, but he looked older, he looked around thirty six.

"Guess not," Our escort answered before turning on the T.V with a silver remote. On screen, a bunch of options appeared. Our escort then quickly flickered though the options until she got to the replay of the reapings. As the capital seal appeared on screen, I heard our escort say "take that blind fold off that young man's face." She was talking about the collector's face wasn't she. He was the only one blind folded.

"No." The young peacekeeper told her "we're not removing his blindfold." I looked over to see our escort glare angrily at the young peacekeeper.

"Did you not hear me?" She asked harshly "I told you to remove that blind fold."

"Miss," the young peacekeeper answered in a way that he was trying to tell her something important "not yet, this guy can't-"

"Are you questioning me?" She growled "I told you to remove his blind fold and I expect you to do just that." She then added "do you want me to get you fired for disobeying me?" The young peacekeeper looked worried as he looked at his comrades for support. They all looked like they didn't like it, but they didn't speak up, which said a lot. "So," our escort said in her superior tone "which is it? Your job or that blind fold?" With no choice, the young peacekeeper walked over to the collector and quickly ripped the blindfold off his face. I then saw the collector exhale a breath of pleasure before slowly looking around the train.

"So this is where I've been the entire time." He said evilly. I then saw his face start to turn towards me. I wanted to hide under the table before he caught a glance at me, but my body was frozen with fear. All of a sudden, I felt his sharp, evil, dark green eyes look at me. Fear ran through me as he looked at me with those cold, murderous eyes. "Hi there," he said to me "we're going to have fun, the two of us."

"No, you won't." The young peacekeeper told him as I heard loud cheering on the T.V. With those peacekeepers around, I'm safe from him, at least, for now.

I turned my face to the T.V and took some mental notes on the tributes we were going to face. In district one, there were two volunteers, a tall, muscular boy wearing a jewel encrusted suit and a beautiful blond haired girl. The boy looked strong, but the girl didn't. In district two, brutal fighting erupted for the volunteers. I was shocked when I saw the district two tribute, a small girl that looked my age. She had volunteered. Most twelve year olds try to stay away from the games, but she leapt right in. Why would she do that? She was like me. This, Howl Draconix, what was going through her mind? The male tribute looked more career like then her with a muscular look. Then came our reapings. Me trying to cover up my sadness, but it quickly falling apart. Then came the collector who's anger could be seen clearly. Then came district four. It had one reaped girl and one volunteer. The reaped girl was like me, she tried to cover up her feelings, but failed. In district five, there was a girl who acted like a spoiled brat and a boy who was hatted throughout his district. Guessing from his red eyes and white hair, I'd guess he was an Albino, someone with a mutation. It all flew by until I reached district seven, when our escort said that district seven had a couple of crybabies reaped. I then saw that the boy and girl were crying on stage. How much I wanted to do that on stage.

I tuned out until someone called out I volunteer. I turned back to reality because I was interested. We were passed the career districts, who'd volunteer? The boy confidently announced his name, Arrowe Winter. What was he thinking?

In district ten, there was a thirteen year old boy who cried and said that he didn't want to go while the girl vomited on stage. Our escort made rude comments on the tributes before it moved on to district eleven, which I turned out of. I didn't get back into it until I heard people groaning. I then saw that the district twelve escort had gotten hit in the face with a hard object and her nose was bleeding. I didn't watch the rest until the reaping were over.

"So," Our escort asked looking at me "what do you think?"

"Some of them are, interesting." I told her. And it was true, some of them were interesting. But the ones that stood out to me were the district two girl, the collector, the district seven tributes, the district nine male, and the thirteen year old boy from ten.

"What do you think?" The escort asked the collector.

"I think there are some lovely girls in there." He laughed "I want them, I want them, I want them." I had a bad feeling about this.

District 1's Griffin Holloway's POV

"What tributes should we get for our alliance?" My district partner asked me. What a stupid question to ask, she should know how this works.

"The usual." I told her. That meant the tributes from our district plus two and four. That's how it usually is, although some of them do go astra, and sometimes tributes from other districts join if they prove themselves worthy enough.

"Yeah, I knew that," Lynsa said like I didn't know better, which annoyed me "I meant anyone besides our normal career buddies." Hmmm, that was a thought. There was that guy from three. Apparently he was so dangerous, that they had to place him in a straightjacket, blind fold him, and place a face muzzle on him. He could be useful. On the other hand, I wasn't sure about the girl from two and the girl from four. Two was only twelve, and four was reaped. We couldn't have anyone slow us down and be a burden. And then there was the district nine volunteer. He might have something up his sleeve that could prove useful, after all, he did volunteer. The rest of the non-careers looked like losers.

"The district three male and the district nine male." I told her. They might be of use to us.

"I don't know about three," she said worryingly "it took over five peacekeepers to put him down, and he doesn't look like the most sane person, do you really think that's a good idea?"

"We'll see." I told her. If in fact it did turn out to be a bad idea, we could just stab him in the back. Those peacekeepers didn't have lethal weapons, so they couldn't really kill him, even if they wanted to. But in the arena, we could put him down permanently if he became a problem.

"Yeah, in the mean time, we'll check out the district nine boy, we'll see how he is in training, then we'll make our decision." My thoughts exactly. I nodded my head to show her that. "I'm also thinking of the district eleven male, he looks strong enough to handle himself." Well strength isn't everything. To survive in the games, you had to have a plan to back it up as well. That was what made my older brother Dragon die. He thought that he could win with skill alone. I wasn't going to make that mistake. I was going to plan this all out from moment we made our alliance. I'd see their strengths and weaknesses, see who'd be the biggest threat and who'd be the smallest threat. Then in the arena, I'd form a plan using the environment. With both my skills and my plans, I'd be more then a match for any tribute in the arena.

"Try to check out the other tributes as well," our female mentor, Aphrodite Amari, told us. "Some of them might be hiding something. Those district sevens may seem like crybabies now, but what if they're hiding behind make emotions? District seven does have almost career like tributes." Those two criers, career like? Don't make me laugh. But she had a point, they might be hiding behind fake emotions to draw in sympathetic sponsors. Or they might just want to be left alone until there are only a few of us left then kill us all. Tributes have done that before.

"I don't know Aphrodite," Lynsa sighed "they might be, but, let's further this conversation when we meet two and four in the training center. Then we can see what the other tributes are capable of."

"Sounds good." I told her while grabbing a bottle of clear fizzy liquid. In the training center, we'd see how well the other tributes preform, then we'd make our pack from there.

A/N: From now until the games, I'll try and get every tribute to have a POV, even the blood bath ones.

Well I'm glad that people liked the last chapter. Hmmm, almost no criticism, I must be going in the right direction.

You know, I should probably PM you all, but for now, I'll just do this.

To Fiddlegirl: I don't want to start a big fight about this, but, yeah you do, you can put periods at the end of dialogue.

To MyDarkTribute: Yeah, sorry if it seemed that way to you, but, I tried.

To Charlie3Cato: thanks.

To Max Albina: Yeah, some of them are sad. But do you really want tributes like Tharizdun or Alexander to win? (no offense to you Max or you hublub or you MyDarkTribute. It's just that they're so, evil.)

To thgultimatefan19: thanks.

To Courtney DiLaurentis: sorry that I didn't do much for Colin, but thanks. I put a lot more effort into Angel then Colin (obviously.)

To window16: thanks

To Callilily: I was lazy, after writing 23 other tributes, I didn't feel like doing his. Your welcome. I put more into her's then his (obviously.)

If any of you haven't voted on the poll, vote now, its coming down after the next chapter (most likely) and I'm pretty sure I know which is going to win.

Constructive criticism welcome.

And if any of you are wondering why I changed my username (I doubt anyone is but I'm still saying it anyway.) I feel as if I've outgrown that name.


	7. Train rides part 2

District nine's Talliana Messine's POV

"I feel horrible." I complained as I fell on a soft leather couch. My body was feeling horrible. I held my head with one hand while holding my stomach in the other. My head was pounding, the inside of my stomach felt like it was on fire, my eyes felt heavy and watery, it wasn't a good feeling to have. And I felt tired, even though the sun told me that it was probably early afternoon.

"It couldn't possibly have anything to do with stuffing yourself full of food and consuming bottles of spirits last night would it?" My escort said sarcastically. Oh yeah, now I remember, last night I ate and drank like no tomorrow. But it was all right there, how could I not resist the temptations in my face?

"It was so totally worth it though." I told her remembering the wonderfully flavored food that was being served to us and the bottle of alcohol to go along with it. The fun me and my tribute partner had at the table, it was like a miniature party. But it was still better then any party I had before. There was enough food for us to fill ourselves and have left overs. It was a kind of party that my friends and I could never have afforded back in district nine. "What do we have for today?" I asked wondering what kind of food and drinks we'd be getting today.

"Well I know what your not getting," I voice called out. Without even looking, I knew that it was my district partner Arrowe. "Anything with alcohol."

"I'll just stick with water for now," I told him not really up for alcohol anyway "or juice, juice might be nice. Just, nothing with alcohol for now."

"I'll order something up," our escort told us getting off her chair "what would you guys like?" What would I like? I don't know, there were so many things to choose from. There was food that I could only dream about eating in the district, and things that I had never even seen or heard of before.

"Good food." I simply told her. She'd get something good I bet.

"Something different." Arrowe told her. Taking a seat beside me.

"Alright then." She said before walking over to a speaker thing and said her order. I wondered how they could get their food so fast. It only took just over a minute for a huge pallet of food to appear in front of her. As she turned towards us, I saw a bowl of steaming hot soup, a bottle of liquid, a plate of vegetable like rolls, and a second bottle of liquid.

"What do you think those are?" Arrowe asked me pointing to the food. I shrugged my shoulders and said

"Your guess is as good as mine." Because the truth was, I didn't even know what any of those were. Not that I cared, this was capital food, and whatever it was, it was going to be good. Our escort placed the food tray in front of us and handed the first liquid bottle to me before setting the soup in front of me. She then handed the plate of rolls to Arrowe before she herself took the second liquid bottle. I saw Arrowe immediately grab a roll and take a bite out of it. I opened my bottle of liquid before hearing Arrowe screaming out. Not in pain, but something closer to uncomfortable. I looked towards him and saw him huffing in air like his life depended on it.

"What is this!?" He shouted in both confusion and pain while pointing to the roll he had bitten into.

"Spicy spring rolls." Our escort answered before drinking out of her bottle. I then saw Arrowe hold out his left hand towards me.

"That bottle of whatever, can I have some?" He asked desperately. I was about to give it to him when our escort said

"I wouldn't drink anything if I were you, if you drink something Arrowe, it will only get spicier." I quickly took back the bottle before Arrowe could grab it.

"Well how to I get rid of this pain then?" Arrowe asked desperate for an answer.

"You don't." Our escort answered with a laugh.

"Wow," Our male mentor spoke up while laughing a bit as well "That's some touch luck son." I couldn't help but laugh a bit as well. These were interesting people.

"Oh ha ha." Arrowe laughed sarcastically before grabbing a glass of water in front of him and drank deeply. When he was done, he let out a satisfying exhale of air. For a moment there, he looked fine, but then he started to inhale air deeply again. The pain was back.

"I told you." Our escort said looking displeased. Well, she was telling the truth, and I thought it was just to make Arrowe suffer.

"Just wait for a bit," our female mentor told him taking one of his spicy spring roll things and taking a bite out of it "it will go away eventually."

"Nah," Arrowe said smiling "I can take it." And with that, he seemed to calm down. Well, that was interesting.

"Oh hay, look at that, we're almost to the capital." Our male escort announced.

"What?" I asked "How can you tell?" I then saw him lift a finger up and point to somewhere behind me. I turned around and saw through the window, a beautiful city beyond anything I'd ever imagined before. Everything was so shiny, clean, and wonderful. I was truly amazed by the capital. I looked though the city looking at their shops and the people and their bizarre fashion. I was no really excited to go and see what else the capital had to offer. It was just, amazing.

"Pshhhh! Nice place." Arrowe said with some hostility in his voice. I looked at him like he was crazy. How could he say that? This was the best thing I'd seen in my life.

"How could you say that?" I asked him. Arrowe then nudged his head towards the city.

"Look at the colours and look at the people," he told me "then you might see why."

District six's Ricky Coler's POV

Wow. Amazing. Those was the only words I could think of the top of my head. So this is what the capital looked like, it was even better seeing it in person then it was on T.V. Seeing was believing. You go through a dark tunnel, then the first thing you see when you emerge from it is this. Like going to another world.

"Those people look ridiculous with those stupid fashion trends." My district partner Rayne announced, even though our blue skinned escort Sky was right behind us. I turned my head towards Sky and saw the hurt and angry expression on her face. It would have been funny if I didn't see the big fork she was holding in her right hand like a dagger. Even worse, she was pointing it right at us. I just smiled at her before turning back to the capital audience. Better not provoke Sky anymore then we needed to. They were all staring at us, the new tributes for the games. They acted as if we were celebrities, they were staring, cheering, clapping, and even waving at us. But dispute all the attention they were giving us, I had to agree with Rayne about the capital fashion, at least some of it. Some if it wasn't bad, like simple dyed hair like saw on some of the young capital kids. Or the earrings and simple claws on some of the older kids. But I didn't like the dyed skinned, animal eared, unnatural colour eyed stuff along with stuff that I couldn't even say. And that was the majority of what they were. Even so, I couldn't help but give little waves to them and smile at them.

"Why are you waving to them." Rayne said in a kind of demanding voice. I turned to her while still smiling and gave her a shrug. "It's not like any of them are going to protect you in the arena." She told me. Why? Because your going to make sure you kill me? I wouldn't be too sure about that. I wasn't going to die from you, you could try though. And wither the capital likes me enough to give me sponsors or not isn't up to you. But I was going to return home with, or without the capital's help.

A/N: Well, train rides are done, onto chariot.

Now, in terms of sponsoring, the winner is...no sponsoring. If you go to my profile and look, it will show that no sponsoring had twice as many votes as the other ones. Points and such got no votes so, I took it away.

Well, hope you guys liked this chapter. How'd I do?

Oh yes, would you guys like me to collect pictures on what your tributes look like then post them on my profile for you and all to see?

To: Max Albina: Yeah, but they don't know that.

To: MyDarkTribute: He could be a problem, he might not.


	8. Chariot

District eleven's Aerin Sevani's POV

"Ok, now, lift up your arms." The green skinned male of my prep team instructed me. I lifted my arms up a bit so that he could do whatever him and the rest of my prep team wanted to do to me. "Lift them higher." He instructed me again. I lifted them up to my shoulders this time. "Higher." He sighed like I didn't understand him. How high did he want it? You know what, I'll just go all out and see how much is too much. I lifted my arms up until my hands were high above my head. "Perfect." He said. If this was the case, why didn't he just say raise your hands above your head? Ah well. Nothing I could do about it.

"So what do you plan to do with me?" I asked as my prep team was examining me from head to toe.

"We're checking to see if there are anymore imperfections before we hand you to your stylist." A silver haired women that looked around my older brother's age. She was by far, the youngest of the group, everyone else looked around thirty, which was the oldest the people in the capital tried to look it seemed, I hadn't seen anyone look older then that in the Capital.

"Well, I do want to look my best for the Capital." I told them with a smile.

"Of course you do." She said before her and the other nodded with satisfaction. "You know, I think now's the time you meet your stylist Melissa."

"What's she like?" I asked lowering my arms to my sides. I wanted to know what she was like, I didn't think she was going to be bad, but, who knows, maybe she'd be a crazy person. But I doubt it. But this was someone who only graduated from district twelve, so who knows what she's thinking.

"Oh she wonderful." The green skinned male told me smiling. "A little strange, but, she's wonderful."

"Strange?" I asked "strange how?" My prep team just smiled reassuring smiles to me and just said

"You'll see." I then looked at myself in the mirror and thought of how good of a job they did on me. I almost didn't recognize myself. My skin looked cleaner then it ever did in my life as far as I could remember, my hair was styled neatly, they even covered up the scar above my left eye.

"Well," I said turning towards my prep team "thanks for cleaning me up."

"Our pleasure." The women with thick red tattoos all over her body answered cheerfully. "Well, we better get Melissa here so you two can finally meet." As they left, I thought of how grateful I felt because they left me in my boxer shorts. I heard from my mentor, Rune Shaith, that his prep team left him naked for what felt like hours on end. I made a joke to him about that, but he didn't find it as funny as my district partner Angel, or our escort, Veronica, did. Guess he had bad memories of it. My prep team was nice, but what was this stylist of theirs like? They said she was strange, strange how?

"Hello there!" I heard a female's voice shout. I turned around to see a young women with turquoise hair and green, vine like tattoos on her face. I looked lower to see that she was holding a bottle of wine in her right hand. Oh, this is what they mean by strange. Not as bad as I thought. "You must be Aerin!" She shouted happily walking up to me.

"Yes," I told her with a smile "yes I am."

"Hello Aerin, I'm Melissa, your stylist for the games, how are you this fine day?"

"Great," I told her "everyone's been really nice to me here." Which was true. Veronica had been nice to Angel and I during the reaping and the train ride. When we got to the capital everyone cheered for us and wanted to meet us. And then there was the prep team, who weren't as scary as I first thought they'd be.

"Great to hear." Melissa said taking a swig of her wine before talking to me again. "Ok, so my partner and I have an idea for you and your tribute partner Angel, want to guess what it is?"

"Yeah, sure." I smiled. I wonder what they had in mind for us. Ok, we're from district eleven, so it has to be something farm related or something along those lines. "We're farmers." I guessed

"Not even close." Melissa told me. What!? Ok.

"We're farming tools." I guessed again. If we weren't farmers, we'd be the tools we use in the fields.

"Closer, but still far." Oh, this was going to be good.

"Some sort of plant?" I guessed. We farmed plants, so, this had to be it.

"In a way." Melissa said before taking another drink of wine. "Ok, Aerin, me and my partner decided to cover you and your partner in vines." Oh I see, farming, plants, vines, it could work.

"Sounds like fun." I told her. I wondered what I'd look like covered in vines.

"Ok," Melissa said "take off those shorts." That took my by surprise, and I couldn't help but shout

"What!?"

"We're covering your whole body in vines so we need you to take off those shorts of yours." Was it really necessary? I wondered. "If your worried about it don't be," Melissa said in a way that indicated that she might be trying to calm me down "Angel's going to be doing the same thing, and don't worry, just be calm." I don't know, this might be a little too strange for me. But, they were helping me get noticed by the Capital and hopefully that would get me sponsors. So I'll continue to do what Rune told me to do, don't fight and do what they say.

District four's Shoney Germoal's POV

Well, this wasn't the best thing they could have came up with, but it wasn't the worst either. When me and my district partner, Eva came from our stylists, I saw that we were both dressed up as navy soldiers. Both of us had white button up shirts, white dress pants with black dress shoes and a black belt with a golden buckle on it. And last but not least, those white hats with the district four crest above the brim. We were also given one rifle each. We were a complete set of navel soldiers. I smiled at the rifle in my hands. I looked almost real. I looked at Evaline and saw that she was smiling happily at the uniform she wore. She was checking it out by holding the fabric and looking at it from all angles. Was she really so happy to be dressed up as a sailor? It was her opinion I guess.

"Hey there fellow careers." A young girl's voice called out to my left. I looked over to see the twelve year old girl from district two. Howl Draconix standing merely four feet away from where I stood. She looked even smaller in person then she did on T.V. I wasn't that big for my age, but her in the arena, she could easily be trampled to death during the bloodbath if she wasn't careful. She was dressed up in a shiny, silver dress with it split down her left leg. And attached to that, she had wings on her back. It suited her, she almost looked like a fairy. And beside her was her district partner, Lucifer Despar. He wasn't that much taller then me, but he looked stronger. I looked at his face and noticed that all his facial features looked small as well. His lips, eyes, and even his nose were all kind of small. He wore a simple knight outfit, if it could be called that. It was mostly a sword and shield with steel chest armor.

"Hay, non-volunteer career, get over here!" A strong like voice shouted. I looked over the district two tributes and saw the district one tributes. Behind Lucifer was Griffin. Taller then the rest of us with short black hair and bigger muscles then Lucifer. He wore a jewel encrusted suit, just like the one he wore during the reapings, except this time, his pants were also covered in jewels. And beside him was Lynsa. She was also small and thin, but not as small or thin as Howl. Her chariot outfit made her look like a powerful female warrior. She had golden armor and everything. Different from Griffin. I looked over to curly red haired Eva who was walking kind of shyly towards us. It wasn't too obvious, I just saw little signs in her movements.

"So, here we all are." Lucifer said looking at each of us careers when we were all standing together.

"Yes," Eva said both happily and unhappy "here we all are, nice to meet you all." I saw the tributes from one and two look at her and start to examine her. They looked up and down at her, what were they looking at her for?

"You seem ok," Lucifer said smiling "for someone that was reaped."

"I may have been reaped," Eva told him with a little anger in her voice "but I'm just as good as the rest of you, so watch it." Lucifer then put up his hands in mock apology and made an "Ohhh, I'm so scared" expression on his face.

"Nice gun you got there." The little girl from two commented looking at the rifle I was holding "can I hold it for a moment?" I shrugged and handed it to her. She examined the rifle for a moment before pointing it towards Eva. What the-!? Then I heard the gun click empty. "Darn, its empty." She laughed before tossing it back to me. I caught it in mid air.

"Not funny." Evaline seemingly snarled at her.

"Good one." Lucifer laughed. Laugh as he would, I saw something in that little girl's eyes, I couldn't put a word on it. Aggression? No, that was too violent of a word. It was smaller, but similar. Maybe superiority over my district partner? I hated people like that.

"All tributes to your horses!" A voice called out.

"Well, we better get back to our places." Lucifer said walking away with Howl. "See ya later reaped career girl."

"Ignore them Evaline." I heard Lynsa say before she also left with Griffin. Was I going to be all right with people like this around me?

District eight's December Juliet "Ember" Varen's POV

It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. I thought I'd never see him again, and yet, there was was. I wanted to call out to him, to let him know that I was right here in front of him. But it couldn't be him, it just couldn't, how could it be him? I was imagining things. Things like this didn't happen.

"Ready to go?" My stylist, Maria Velnore, asked me. I tore my eyes away from him before looking at Maria and telling her that I was ready. I got help from Maria getting loaded onto the horse drawn chariot and stood beside my district partner, Dav Anders. He didn't help me up the chariot, in fact, he didn't even look at me as I got on. Maria was the one to help me up the whole way. Why did this guy have to act so superior? Its not like he was better then the rest of us. I just got into position when I noticed the first chariot moving.

"Ok," Lola, one of the members of my prep team announced "off goes district one." I looked at the chariots in front of me and noticed that they had drivers, just the horses. How did they manage to go the route from here to the president's mansion? Did they do it so many times that they remembered it? Were they trained to do it? I looked forward and examined the other tributes costumes. District one's always made a show, they were usually the Capital's favorite. This year, the boy was covered head to toe in jewels while the girl looked like a powerful warrior. Then came district two, the little fairy girl and the the knight. Then went out district three, circuit boards. The giant in the chariot didn't look too happy, in fact, nobody on that chariot looked happy. And with five peacekeepers on the chariot along with the two tributes, there wasn't much room for them, the giant, or the little girl on it. District four came after them. They were sailors with rifles. District five then came out as light bulbs. The male tribute also didn't look too happy. He waved, but only just. He looked angry, just like the district three male. Six came out, and they were dressed up as trains. Then came seven, they were dressed up as lumberjacks. Then came me and Dav. I was dressed up with a knee length dark blue dress with glowing white strips and dark blue shoes. Dav had a dark blue dress shirt with glowing white strips with green pants and dark blue shoes. What I had that he didn't have was ribbons that wove down my curly dark hair. I waved to the capital citizens, like they told me to do, as they cheered at us. But why did we have to do this? Why did we have to dress up in costumes for them? It didn't make any sense. I took a look behind me and saw that district nine was dressed up as wheat grains. District ten was dressed up as differently, the little boy was a satyr while the older girl was a peacock. I got the peacock, but why the satyr? Then came district eleven. Their bodies were entangled with vines, and only vines. And last but not least came district twelve. The tributes were dressed up as coal miners. But even with all those people out there, I just couldn't help but look again. I looked back and saw him again. He'd be almost fifty now, but he it seemed he hadn't aged in the years he was gone. I thought I'd never see him again. But I didn't want to see him, not like this, not as a tribute for the games. Why did fate have to be so mean to me? The man turned around and looked at me, just as he did when he was escorting the giant from district three past me. And just as I knew it was him, he knew it was me. I felt like crying now, why did it have to be this way? Did my ancestors want to punish him more? Or did they want to punish me for something? Or both?

"Why did it have to be this way?" I whispered to not only myself, but to him, even though he couldn't hear me. "Why did I have to meet you like this, dad?"

A/N: All right, pictures are up. You know, it took me longer to get those pictures then it did for me to write this. Surprisingly, this chapter just came to me. Oh yes, and the pictures aren't perfect, but I tried to get them as close as possible to what your tributes should look like. So, which picture's your favorite?

Ok, up next, training room, my favorite part besides the games. Ok, I'm going to try and make the training room chapters a little longer then the train rides and such. But I do know that the chapters will be longer once the games start (hopefully).

To window16: I feel as if I didn't get Shoney's personality that well, but, it was kind of hard for me to do in that situation, I'll try and do better next time.


	9. Training day 1 part 1

Training day 1 before lunch

**District twelve's Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

As me and my district partner Colin got lead to the elevator that would lead us to the training center, I thought of what I had to work on. What did I have to improve to give me better odds in the arena? I was a fast runner and agile, that could help me get away from any hostile tributes that came after me. I was one of the smartest kids in my school, but would that help me any? Maybe I could learn some snares and create a strategic trap that would at least cripple the enemy. I was also good at hiding, being a thief, I learned how to hide in the smallest spaces and using the shadows and lighting to my advantage. I should see if I could improve in any of those, maybe take up some camouflage like my mentor, James, suggested to me. Then maybe later, learn something new that could be useful to me. I don't know, maybe foliage identification, that could help me survive in the arena, assuming that there is edible foliage in the arena.

"Ok you two," our escort said to us talking so quickly I could barley understand her rushed words "push the button marked negative one and you should get to where you need to be, ok bye." And then the elevator doors closed on us separating her from us. Wasn't she supposed to bring us to the training center? I think she's still mad from getting hit in the face with that rock back during the reapings. Well, she wasn't the nicest person to us anyway. I looked over to Colin and nudged my head towards the elevator buttons. He turned and looked at me dumbly. Maybe he just didn't see me nudge my head, so I did it again. Again, he just looked at me dumbly. The elevator buttons were on his side of the elevator, he should press the button to the training center. I nudged my head towards the elevator buttons one last time to see if he'd understand. He didn't. I sighed, reached over, and pushed the button myself. I then felt the elevator swiftly start making its way down. All of a sudden, I felt something start playing with my hair. I quickly turned around to see Colin's large fingers fiddling around with my hair. I swatted his hands away before glaring at him. He only smiled at me. Now I couldn't wait to get out of this elevator and get to training. When the elevator finally made it to the training room, the doors swished open before I walked into the training center. I saw eyes turn towards us, I looked back at them. We weren't the last ones. As someone pinned the number twelve to my back and shirt sleeve, I saw that everyone else had their district number attached to their shirt sleeves and backs. Only the careers from districts one, two, and four were here along with district six, eight, and us.

Looking at the tributes in simple clothing now, I saw that most of the tributes from six and eight were thinner then they first appeared. For instance, the girl from six, Rayne I think her name was, had a thin body despite being tall, same with the pale boy beside her. Same with the girl from eight, though not as extreme as district six, she looked healthy enough. The boy from eight had more weight on him, but not as much as Colin. But that didn't mean he was any better then the rest of us, he looked a little overweight and out of shape. The careers were a different story however. They had the bodies of kids that were rarely, if ever, hungry. They all had fit bodies and gave off an aura of dangerous, even the little twelve year old girl gave off the same vibe.

The tributes that came in after us mostly looked like the non-careers. Some looked strong, like district eleven's Aerin, but he was nowhere as strong or healthy looking as the district one male. The only exception to that was the district three male. When I saw him come through those elevator doors, he was even scarier then he was on T.V. His very presents radiated evil. He had a very muscular build that rivaled, maybe even exceeded the district one male's. Plus, he was taller then him. And behind him came the scared twelve year old girl from his district and the five escorting peacekeepers.

"Hello ladies!" The district three male shouted just after he left the elevator before laughing crazily. I was definitely going to stay away from him. Not even the red eyed kid from five scared me as much as he did. When all twenty four tributes were in the room, a man named Hannibal welcome us all before listing off the stations which we could try out. There were weapon stations, survival stations, and obstacle courses. I should start with a survival station first, weapons could come later.

"Ok," Hannibal said ready to release us "ummm, have fun." Yeah, I thought, I'll try.

I headed away from Colin and headed for the foliage identification station. There, I met a stunningly good looking girl that didn't look much older then most of the tributes here.

"Well well well," she said like she was teasing someone "looke here, my first victim, ready to see if you can feed or poison yourself?" I shrugged like I couldn't care less. I just wanted to learn something useful. The instructor then pulled out a whole hand full of plants from a table to her left. I looked at the plants and saw that while I recognized some, a large number of them I had never seen before in my life. "Ok," my instructor said "sort through those and tell me which of those are edible and which ones aren't."

"Isn't there an easier way?" I asked wondering if I had to go through each of these plants, some of which were tangled to each other.

"We could use the book," she told me "but you'd only see pictures of them, I think its better if you see the plants first hand." She had a very good point. All right, I'll see which ones I think are edible. Lets see if I could survive the mock arena.

**District two's Lucifer Despar's POV**

"So what are you all good at?" I asked my fellow careers. Me and my district partner, along with the boys and girls of districts one and four stood facing each other. "I'm good with close range weapons such as knives and running."

"Running?" The district one male, Griffin snorted, like he thought it was a joke "what good's running."

"It's good to use when catching a coward tribute running away. So, what are you good at doing Griffin." I then saw Griffin calmly walk to the mace weapon station. Pick up a heavy mace with both of his hands, and powerfully swing it at a combat dummy. As soon as he struck the combat dummy, I saw it leave the ground and do a backflip before it landed on its face, if it had a face. I was impressed. "Ok," I said nodding my head "strong, close range, mace." I looked to Griffin's district partner. "What's your skills?"

"Follow me." Lynsa told us. We then followed her to the archery station. When we got there, we saw the district five female, Valerie, loading up an arrow into a bow, and letting of it before she put any tension on the string. Wow, she was lame.

"Do you even know how to use that?" I asked wondering if she even held a bow before. She was failing to do the most basic archery skills. It was pathetic.

"Guess not." She said looking at the fallen arrow. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lynsa pick up a long bow and swiftly place an arrow in it. She then pulled on the string and released the arrow and let it fly into the center of the bullseye target. Her accuracy was top notch. But if that wasn't enough, she fired off about six more arrows in the time it would have taken for me to fire off two good shots. And even better, she hit them in the eight to ten score. If it were a person she was shooting at, she'd either hit them in the head or the neck.

"Very impressive." I told her. And I was impressed, very.

"Yes," Valerie said also impressed "where'd you learn to get so well?" Lynsa looked like she was about to say something, but I wanted to have some fun with her.

"You don't learn how to do it," I told Valerie, obviously lying "you have to be born with the skill, otherwise, its impossible to get this well." Sadness seemed to flood her eyes as she started to walk away, saddened. When she was out of ear shot, I started to laugh. And so did, Howl.

"I thought I wasn't going to make it." Howl laughed

"I know, man, she's dumber then I thought." She actually believed it.

"You have to be born with those skills otherwise you can't learn them." Howl said making a mock version of my voice, which only made it funnier "what a laugh."

"That wasn't funny you two." Lynsa said to us seriously

"Yeah, that wasn't very funny." Evaline added. Those two had no sense of humor. Howl and I laughed for a bit more before calming down.

"Ok fine," I said taking one last laugh before turning all serious again "ok Howl, what are you good at?" I then saw the little girl walk to the knife section where three other tributes were hanging out at, the boys from districts three, six, and eight. The boys from six and eight saw us, looked at us, but the district three male didn't seem to notice us. Good, I didn't want him to see us yet. This was the station that most non-career tributes try out first. Howl went beside them before picking up a knife and throwing it at a bullseye target and hitting it dead center. So she was a long range fighter like Lynsa. And she was good, better then any twelve year old I ever saw. She's be a great threat in the arena despite how she looked. I was glad that her and district one was on my side.

"Satisfied?" Howl asked proudly as the district six and eight boys looked at her in surprise before turning to the knife she threw.

"Yes." I told her before I then turned to district four's Shoney. "So four, what are you good at?" It was probably going to be some kind of fishing skill or something.

"I'm good at swimming and I'm good at running." Shoney answered. Fast huh, well, we'll see how fast he was when we race each other.

"Anything else?" Lynsa asked "you must have a weapon you're good with." Shoney looked around with his eyes a bit before saying

"Knives, I guess."

"You guess?" Howl said "you are or you aren't, so are you good with knives or not?"

"Lay off him ok," I heard his district partner say coming to defend what little needed to be defended "he doesn't want to show I'm guessing." I then looked at Evaline.

"Doesn't want to show us? Fine, but I have more faith in his abilities then yours reaper, even if he didn't show his skills off, we'll see his in a bit. But you," I said jabbing her chest with my right index fingers "you were the only one here that was reaped, you going to prove that you aren't useless to us?" Evaline then glared at me before picking up a knife beside her.

"This outa be good." Howl said as we followed her. I couldn't wait to see what she did. She'd probably mess up or something. I watched as Evaline aimed the knife, and threw it at a bullseye target, and hit it just centimeters from the center. Better then what I expected from a reaped tribute.

"Impressive," Howl commented looking at the target range "but, I can do better, as you saw."

"At least you aren't totally useless." I commented. She was good, I'll give her that.

"What about you Lucifer," Evaline said smiling "you haven't show us your skills." Did she really think she could intimidate me?

"Yeah, well, for now, I think we should split us and see the different stations and see what other tributes we might want to recruit." And with that, I turned around and ran towards the spear throwing station. And even though it was almost one hundred meters away, I made it there in less then fourteen seconds. I turned around and smiled at the rest of the career group. That was my speed Shoney, what's yours?

**District seven's Sami Lavisa's POV**

Don't show what your good at, that was my plan. Ok, I can do that. There was a slingshot section and a dart gun section, I was good with both of those because of the play sessions I had with Gracie and Jhono, so I'd stay away from those. What did I want to try? Something new. I looked around the weapons stations and saw a majority of the careers around them. The district two boy was chucking spears, the district one male and female was trying out archery while the district four girl was at the whip section. I saw that the sword station was unoccupied. Well, I could learn how to use a close range weapon. I would have wanted to go to the knife section, but that district three male was there, and I didn't want to do near him right now. I walked over to the sword training station where I was meet with a young, blond haired girl with green eyes.

"Trying swords?" The girl asked.

"Yes." I said quietly. I saw the girl pick up a sword from a barrel that was full of swords. The sword she pulled out for me was long and straight.

"Here you are." She said placing it into my hands, which immediately I felt the weight of it, it was heavier then I thought it'd be. The girl steeped back before telling me to swing the sword at the training dummies to my side. "Try to hit the heads or the X's in the chest." She told me. Ok, easy enough I thought. But then, I struggled to lift the sword higher then my head. I didn't think I could cut the head, so I just stuck with the chest area. I swung the heavy weapon back and forth cutting the dummies torsos. Every time I took a strike at a dummy, the sword crashed onto the floor making a loud clang before sending a powerful vibration up though my arms. I wanted to keep going though, so I held on and lifted again. But after about a couple dozen swings, I couldn't even lift the sword up anymore. I could feel my arms aching, my shoulders were shaking, and bits of sweat were going down my forehead. I was beat.

"Maybe swords arn't for you." The trainer told me. She was probably right, I could barley lift it above my shoulders, and I swung it around like a child. But I was a child though. "How about you try something not so hard?" The trainer advised me "try archery, or the whips. Or try some survival stations, you don't need to only know about weapons." You know, she was right, I didn't only need to know about weapons, I had to focus on survival as well. I dragged the sword to her and placed it in her waiting hands. Sword play, just wasn't for me. It was too heavy and I didn't do a lot of damage to the dummies.

"Sorry." I quietly told her as she placed the sword into the barrel of other swords.

"Its ok." She told me. She gave me a sympathetic smile and nod before I turned around and left. As I headed to the knot tying section, I heard some fabric ripping behind me and a sort of grunting noise. I looked back to see the district nine male, the one who had volunteered, the one with one black eye and one green eye. He was at the sword station that I was just at, and he was swinging it higher, harder, and faster then I was. His cuts to the chest were deeper then mine, plus, he reached the head as well. Damn, how could I fight people like that?

I tried not to think about it as I got to the knot tying section where there was another occupant. A girl around my age with black wavy hair was trying to tie a knot with rope.

"Ah, another visitor." The trainer said happily to me "what would you like to learn today?" Something useful.

"Tr-traps." I told him shyly. I couldn't help it, I was naturally this way.

"Traps huh," he said still smiling "some simple traps that can get you food, alright, I'll show you what I'm showing this other girl here." The trainer then handed me a long piece of thick rope, which I took from him, before he started to show me how to tie a trap line that would capture small animals and leave them suspended in the air. From the way this guy acted and the way he explained how to tie, I think that he liked his job. That he might even have fun doing it. "And there you have it." He said showing me the finished job. "You try now." And I did. But I found out that it was easier said then done, turns out that this was hard. I kept on getting it wrong and had to restart several times. He made it look so easy. It looked like that the other girl with me had the same kind of problem. She was grumbling and saying that she could never do it. "Want me to show you again?" The trainer asked. Say yes, if he shows you he'd be showing me too.

"Can you do it for me?" The girl asked throwing her half completed trap down "I don't want to do this anymore."

"Oh come now," The trainer said easily finishing her trap "it won't come immediately, it just takes practice."

"Practice," the girl half laughed half snorted "I've never done this before, it would take all day for me to finish this, and I want to do other things to you know." As the girl kept on complaining, I started to remember the way the trainer had completed her trap. I then started to try and copy his movements. If I tried to remember how he did it, put a picture in my head, and tried to do what he showed me. And soon, I was blocking out the sound of the girl beside me complaining.

"Nobody just starting can-"

"Can we talk about something else?" The trainer asked sighing "I've been hearing you complain for about forty five minutes." I then looked at my finished trap and was pleased with myself. It didn't look as good as his, but, close enough. My first accomplishment in the games. Well, I'm not in the arena yet, but this was still the games I guess.

"I'm just saying that...whoa, look at that." The girl called out. I looked up to her and saw her looking at my trap. I looked at the trainer wondering what he thought of it. He looked at my trap and smiled.

"It's not perfect, but its as close as you can get it." I then felt extremely pleased with myself. I remembered the way he tied it and with that plus a bit of thinking and experimenting, I did it.

"That's great." The girl said now looking at me.

"Thanks." I said shyly.

"My name's Angel," the girl said to me crouching down "what's yours?"

"S-Sami." I told her.

"Well you seem to have some skills Sami, you know, we could be allies, I'm good with bows, so we won't have to worry about close combat." She was a long range fighter, just like me. And allies could help me survive longer, if they didn't stab me in the back. But she didn't seem to be the kind of person to do that. "Would you like that Sami?" Angel asked. I nodded my head. Allies.

A/N: Well, day one, part one is done. I hope you all like.

If you character wasn't mentioned now, don't worry, there's like, two and a half days worth of training plus private sessions, and we've got though only half a day so far. But I shudder at the thought of another 24 POV's in one chapter. I also shudder at the thought of interviews.


	10. Training day 1 part 2

Training day 1 during lunch

**District twelve's Colin Aldrin's POV**

I swear that they put every object in my way on purpose. I couldn't go a few feet without hitting something. Why were all these things in my way? I heard the others laughing and I knew it was at me. I turned to them and flipped them off. Fuck you guys too. When I finally made my way to a table, I sat down and started to eat.

"Hay," a voice near me called out "what are you doing here?"

"Duh, eating." I told him the obvious. Was he stupid or something?

"Do you have to eat here?" The boy asked

"Yeah." I told him. I had to eat at a table.

"Whatever." The boy sighed "while your at it twelve, eat my food as well, I hate these breads."

"Gladly." I told him grabbing his bread from him. I then started eating again. My parents food was way better then this, but I still had to eat, so this was good, I guess. After a bit, I heard him ask

"So what's your plan? You just going to run and hide or what?"

No, I've got a better plan then that." I told him. He then seemed intrigued by it, and who wouldn't be?

"So what's your genius plan then?" He asked like he didn't believe me

"You know the cornucopia right?" I asked him.

"Dar, yeah," he said like I was an idiot "what about it?"

"I'm going to get there before anyone else." I told him. He gave out a snort.

"A fat ass like you? How?"

"I'm going to run before the gong goes off." I told him. I then heard him laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world. What was so funny about that? It was perfect.

"You can't run off the land mine before the gong you dumb ass, you'll explode." That's what everyone thought, but it was a trick, a trick to scare them. But I knew better.

"You'll see." I told him, I was going to get the best equipment because I wasn't going to be scared, like everyone else.

Training day 1 after lunch

**District ten's Max Starling's POV**

Fire making went fairly well for me, I managed to make a small fire from matches pretty easily, but making it from flint was much harder. I couldn't do it just yet, maybe I'd try again later. Plant identification didn't go so well, there were about twenty different plants and I mostly choose to eat the poisons ones. But that was ok in a way, I could live with that, I could go a long time without food, so I didn't need to worry about it too much. But it would be nice to learn how to feed myself in the arena, I mean, what if my food ran out and I couldn't hunt? I'd have to resort to plants, and I choose the ones that were poisonous, here, I had unlimited chances, in the arena, I had one chance. Ok, don't freak out Max, calm down, you can try later. And who knows? Maybe you might not even have to resort to plants. I looked around to see that they had an ax station. An ax, my weapon of choice. I ran towards it and meet up with the trainer, a blond haired male with green eyes. And at the station as well was the twelve year old from district three. Nessa I think her name was. I saw the girl swing her ax at a training dummy, and when her ax made contact with the dummies chest it wedged in deeply.

"Nice," I told her "that went in deep, that was really good."

"Thanks." The girl grunted as she tried to pull the ax out, and was failing. She was pulling hard, but the ax wouldn't come out of the dummy, she pulled and pulled but all she did was rattle the dummy.

"I'd better take it out before-" the instructor started but stopped when district three gave a powerful tug on the dummy and it started to quickly fall. She gave a screech of fear before the dummy landed on her making her fall flat on her back. "That happens." The instructor finished before walking over to her and lifting up the dummy. I heard the girl moaning in pain, and the look on her face and the sounds she was making just made me laugh. She gave me a mean look and I noticed that nobody else was laughing.

"What?" I asked not knowing what I did wrong "nobody else found that kind of funny? I mean, the dummy fell on her, and then the squeal, then the moaning and groaning." I looked at the instructor who had a blank face on him. "Oh come on, I can't be the only one that found that funny." I said as I felt my smile fading. But then the instructor cracked a smile.

"It was pretty funny." He said now smiling. Yeah, so I wasn't the only one. I saw him help the little girl up before easily removing the ax from the dummy's chest. He then turned to me and asked "you wanna try little man?" Isn't the why I came in the first place?

"Yeah," I told him "I want to try the axes, but I also want to try the throwing ones as well, what do you call it? Hatchets or something? I want to try those too. And also the two handed axes. You know what, I want to try all of it."

"Ok," The instructor told me "one at a time, just try this normal ax first." He then handed me the standard two handed ax. It wasn't as big as some of the other two handed axes, you could hold this one with one hand, but it wouldn't have much power if you only swung with one hand. I took the ax from him and walked over to the training dummy that the girl was training on. I took a deep breath before saying

"Wish me luck, this might not go well, but who knows, maybe, I could get something good."

"Luck." I heard the instructor say before I lifted up the ax up high and as powerfully as I could, slammed the blade down into the dummies neck. I wasn't that strong, but the technique that I used made up for that. I had seen the way people used axes in my district. They might not be as good as the people in district seven, but they were the best that I knew of. My ax had sliced through a third, almost half, of the dummy's neck. I removed the blade from the dummy's neck and went in for a second strike. This time, the blade sliced through almost all of the neck. I removed the blade again and used the third strike to remove the head completely. "That's some nice chopping there little man." The instructor told me. I felt pleased with myself, he said that I had some skill.

"I've watched people do this for years," I told him "I seem to have picked up their techniques and all that." The next weapon he handed to me was the large two handed ax. He called it the executors blade before it was big and heavy enough for someone to slice a person's head in half. He handled it fine, but when I tried to use it, I could barley lift it off the floor. I struggled and fought the executors blade, but it was just too heavy for me. I managed to swing the blade, but all I did was cut the dummy's shin. And when I dropped it on the dummy's foot, it looked like I did more damage dropping it on it's foot then I did swinging it.

"It's alright little man," the instructor told me "you did better then I thought."

"Really?" I asked not really believing him "because that looked pathetic, I could barley lift it higher then that dummy's shin, and I did more damage simply dropping it on it's foot. I mean, if that was a real person, I might as well just try and stand it up and hope that some dumb ass runs into it." The instructor then handed me a hatchet. I could hold it in one hand, it was light and maneuverable. This was a lot easier then the others. I striked the dummy over and over again with the hatchet until it was full of fairly deep cuts. I then steeped back and was ready to try and throw it. "Everyone watch out, I've got a hatchet and I'm about to throw it."

"Where at?" The twelve year old redhead asked.

"At that dummy," I told her pointing to the dummy that I had been practicing on "where else would I throw it? At that guy trying out the tridents?" The girl then looked over to the district eleven male stabbing a training dummy with a trident.

"I guess not." She answered. I then placed my focus on the dummy ahead. Ok, I could do this, I could throw this hatchet and it will hit the dummy in the chest. Ok, here I go. I took a deep breath before exhaling. I then took another breath and threw the hatchet. And while it did hit the chest, it was the handle the hit the chest, the blade was nowhere near the body. Damn, so close.

"I'm surprised that you even threw it." The instructor told me looking impressed.

"Really?" I asked disappointed with myself.

"Yeah, usually if someone that's not a career or from district seven tries to throw an ax, they slice their palm open and miss by a mile." That made me feel slightly better. "Some more practice and you could be hitting things with the blade of a hatchet." The instructor told me. Maybe.

"I'll think about it," I told him "I really will, I could use some more practice on those hatchets. I might be back later." The trainer nodded before I turned around and left. What else could I try? A survival station, that's what I needed to look for. Maybe learn to make a blanket of leaves or something.

"Hey, you." A voice behind me called out. I turned around to see the district three girl behind me. "Your good with those axes."

"Thanks," I told her "I've seen people use them for years, so I knew what to do, sorry that you had trouble with yours and I laughed."

"It's ok." She said. We stood there in silence for a couple seconds before I turned around and started to walk away from her and walk towards shelter building. "Wait!" She called out. I sighed before turning around. What did she want? "I'm good with traps, that could be good for food." What did that have to do with anything.

"Good for you," I told her "now I need to learn that, did you say that to brag or what?"

"No," the girl said innocently, like she didn't mean it that way. "I just thought...you know."

"No, I don't know." I told her "thanks for bragging to me, now I need to learn about survival, I guess you need to learn about weapons," I then pointed over to the knife training section "I've heard that that's the easiest weapon to learn, go try it." I then turned around and started to walk away from her again.

"Wait." The girl said again getting on my nerves. I turned around and said straight to her face

"What do you want? Say it and stop bugging me." She looked a bit scared before saying

"You want to be allies?"

"What?" Asked not getting what she asked, did she want to be allies with me?

"Do you want to be allies?" She asked again. Hmmm, I don't know, I wasn't very good with people.

"Well your good with traps," I said "so that could be good for food, and I'm good with weapons so we're good at fighting."

"So you want to be my ally?" The girl asked.

"Sure," I happily told her, now I wouldn't be alone in the arena. "But I've got to learn some survival skills and you've got to learn some weapon skills, I don't want to have to defend you all the time and I'm sure you don't want to always be hunting for me as well." And with that, we became allies.

**District nine's Arrowe Winter's POV**

"Show me the hardest obstacle course." I told the trainer at the agility course.

"Are you sure that you don't want to start on an easier one?" The trainer asked. Nah, I knew what I was doing, I was good at agility, but how good was I really?

"No," I told him "I want to see how good I really am." The trainer just shrugged and said

"All right then," in a board kind of voice "follow me." And then he lead me to a course that involved climbing, running, jumping, and dodging. Wow, this looked tough. It was perfect. I could test everything I had. "Ready to start?" The instructor asked.

"Not yet." I told him looking over the course. There were nets that I had to climb, walls that I had to scale, tracks that I had to run, ropes that I had to swing, it had everything. It even had swimming. I looked at where I had to begin and started to make a plan out of it. I examined the height and length of every obstacle. When I was finished, I said to the instructor "ok, now I'm ready." The instructor then lead me to the start of the course. A forty meter ran followed by a net around twenty five feet high. When I heard the instructor say go, I was instantly off. I was a fast runner, I knew that much. I quickly got to the net and started to make my way up. But it was easier said then done, my feet kept on getting tangled in the square holes. But I still kept on going. And I eventually made it to the top. Up there, there was a board that was about two feet wide that stretched about fifteen feet. I walked across it while keeping my balance, it wasn't too hard for me. When I got across that, there was a rope swinging stage where I had to let go of the rope and grab the edge of the wall I was supposed to scale. I didn't know if I could do that, it was risky, I had a high chance of falling, but that's what made this interesting, the risks. I grabbed the rope with both my hands and jumped off the board. I felt the air rushing past me as I got closer to the wall. It was a shame that I could only swing for a couple seconds, that feeling made me feel like I was on top of mountain with a nice breeze to add to that. I let go of the rope and grabbed the edge of the wall I was supposed to climb over. I felt my fingers grab onto the edge, and it hurt, a lot. But I endured it and kept my feet kicking and pulled myself up. It was hard work, but if I didn't get up in about thirty seconds my fingers would start to slip. I pushed myself, pulled myself up, kicked my feet on the wall, and eventually got over the wall. I climbed down the wall before planting my feet onto solid ground again. I turned around and saw the agility stage. I had to follow the yellow tape, easy enough. But the yellow tape went through cones in the middle of the track. I also had to go in a zig zag formation. Well, I did want to test myself.

I ran at the cones and followed the yellow tape. I ran between cones and jumped over hurdles before making it to the end. I felt myself hit a couple of cones along the way, but I didn't check to see if I did. Because now I had to go with the swimming course. I jumped into the water and felt refreshed as the cool water ran though my clothes and onto my skin. It felt nice. But I focused on the task ahead. I started to swim to the end, but I soon realized that swimming wasn't one of my strong suits. I made slow progress getting to the other side of the pool, and my arms were sore from stroking the water. I grabbed the edge of the pool and made myself climb out. Water splashed on the floor as I climbed out and I focused on the last obstacle, tree climbing. It wasn't a real tree, but it was basically a poll with pieces of wood sticking out like branches in a tree. I rested for a couple seconds before running towards the tree poll. I grabbed the lowest branch and began climbing up. But it was harder then I thought, it didn't look hard, but the water still on me made me slip and fall. If I let go of the branches to early, I'd tumble to the ground. But I was good at climbing, it was one of the things I lived for. I reached for a higher branch, then went from there. My hands finding the best route and my legs followed. Soon, I was at the top of the tree poll, tired, exhausted, but at top. I had done it, I did the hardest obstacle course this center had to offer. I was happy, so happy.

When I got down, I saw a curly red haired girl along with a pretty brown-blond girl with golden eyes standing by the tree poll. What were they doing there? Were they trying the course and waiting for me to get down? I then noticed the numbers attached to their sleeves. One and four. Careers. What did they want?

"Impressive stuff." The blond girl from district one said looking up the tree impressed

"Yeah, that was something." The red head girl from four said, but not with as much enthusiasm as one.

"Thanks." I told them wondering if they were here to insult me. I'm good at what I do, but so were they.

"So," the girl from one said now looking at me "you've got skills, and we like people like that."

"Ok." I told them. I think I know where this was going.

"We'd like you to join us." The girl from four said answering my thoughts. "With you by our side, we'd make a better, stronger team. Your skills could come and handy, and with us around, you can rest assure that you'll be safe and survive the bloodbath." The careers, they thought I was good? Wow. I must be really good to get their attention. "So what do you say? Want to join us?" The careers, the best of the best. This could be interesting. And with them beside me, I'd have a better chance of surviving. And when I didn't want to be with them anymore, I could just run away from them in the middle of the night. But for now, they'd be my protection. I'd have to show them that I could be useful in the arena though. But, I'll risk it.

"I'd like to join." I told them.

"Great," the girl from one said happily "come with us and meet the others."

A/N: Ok, day one of training is complete, day two is up next. And yes, I had trouble to Colin's part. And for all of you wondering "why wasn't my character involved?" Chill, we've still got one and a half days to pass. And these alliances aren't final, your tribute could be part of an alliance in a bit.

Alliances so far:

Career pack: Griffin, Lynsa, Lucifer, Helena/Howl, Shoney, Evaline/Eva, Arrowe

Tribute pack 1: Sami, Angel

Tribute pack 2: Nessa, Max

Loners: Zap/Tharizdun, Alexander, Valerie, Ricky, Rayne, Bo, Dav, December/Ember, Thallina, Life, Aerin, Colin, Evanlyn/Eve.


	11. Training day 2 part 1

Training day 2

Twenty minutes before ten.

**District ten's Life Lee's POV**

"What was the hardest thing you faced in the arena?" I asked my mentor, Druid Ray. I was curious to know what he had to face. Because I might be facing it to.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked staring at me with his emotionless, forest green eyes. I admired those eyes because of the lack of emotion that they produced, they were unpredictable.

"Yes." I told him. I wanted to know, so that when I was in the arena, I could deal with the worst situation he could think of. He looked like he didn't want to tell me when he told me

"I think you should know, you know what my game was like, and if you don't, once I tell you you can't just un-hear it, I mean-"

"Tell me." I demanded from him "just tell me." I know it was kind of cruel the way I asked, but I wanted to know, I had to know. If I could survive the horror that he had to face, I could survive anything. If I could survive, I could go home. I could go back to Laurel, who I promised I'd come back for. Druid sighed and brushed his shaggy dark hair back with one hand.

"Love." He answered not looking at me anymore, but somewhere else in the room. Maybe not even in this room, but someplace only he could see. Maybe a memory of some sort.

"Love?" I asked not believing him "really?" How could the biggest danger in the arena be love? In school, we learned that love in the arena was used as a weapon in the seventy fourth and the seventy fifth hunger games.

"Yes really." He told me not sounding so nice and happy anymore "when I was in the arena, I fell in love. Then it was only the two of us, and I double crossed her." He sighed like he regretted something, which it sounded like he did. "I stabbed her." I looked at him seriously

"You stabbed her? Why?" If he was in love with her, why'd he stab her? Why'd you just stab the person you love?

"I didn't know it at the time," He told me "but she wanted me to do it, because she said, that she just couldn't be the next champion." I thought about what he was saying, falling in love, followed by betrayal. Betrayal that he did.

"So what are you saying?" I asked probably knowing what he was trying to say "don't fall in love?"

"Exactly." He answered seriously "there's a reason that nobody's fallen in love in the arena before seventy four and since." Or at least made it out alive and well I thought. But I wasn't going to fall in love, because it seemed that everyone I loved was taken away from me except Laurel, and I needed to get back to her. No matter what.

***Ten minutes after ten***

"You sure are stubborn arn't you," My district partner Max Starling told me as we rode down the elevator to the training center below ground "you just had to finish breakfast, you just had to finish that meal, which I don't blame you by the way, it's good stuff, but Aera is still scary. I mean, she's in a better mood then she was when she was before, but I still don't want to get slashed by those nails of hers." Our escort Aera, she was in a better mood since we got to the capital, but her six inch nails still scared us every time she wove them around or pointed one of them at us. I swear, one of times she's swinging those around, she's going to break something, or hurt someone. Even our mentors and avoxs were scared when she was waving her hands around. And it wasn't my fault that I wanted to eat some more, I was hungry, and the food was too good to pass. But no, we had to get to the training center on time, we just had to. Aera made a fit when I said that I wanted to finish my meal instead of going to the training center.

"You're late!" She shouted at me "come on! Hurry hurry!" And all I wanted to do was finish my food. So what if we were a minute late? So what if we were five minutes late? It was only five minutes or so.

"I just wanted to finish eating." I told little Max.

"Well you didn't have to fight her." He told me "I mean, you saw her, she was angry and stuff. And it scared me to see you two shouting so loud." Yeah, we did fight a bit, we both shouted at each other. Me telling her to let me finish, her telling me to get going.

"She over reacted." I told him, which in my opinion, she did.

"True." He said "but at least we got more food." He smiled. Yeah, yeah we did. Because in the end, I won, I finished breakfast. I looked at Max. We both finished breakfast. We couldn't get anything like that back in district ten.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at the floor the training center was located at. The doors opened and I saw tributes already working at training stations. We were late, but only by a bit. As Max walked away from me I spotted my ally, Rayne Page from district six. I waved to her, and she waved back. Yesterday, I noticed that she was great with a knife and I admired her bravery, because she wasn't, if hardly, fazed by the giant district three male. That's what made us connect at the knife station, we both weren't afraid of him. When she asked what I was good at, I showed her my ax skills. When she saw what I could do, she was impressed. I had a lot of practice with an ax, after all, I came from the farming district where animals needed to be butchered and sold. And with that, we became allies. Soon after, I found out that she was strong and smart. When we were at the plant identification center, she almost memorized the edible plants in a couple of hours. She was definitely a good ally. But there was just something about her that I didn't like. I didn't know what it was, but I still had a feeling that there was something bad about her that I should be worried about.

I then saw something out of the corner of my eye. To my left I saw a fight going on. I looked over to see three kids. Two older, one younger. The two older ones were Bo Heatherfield from district seven, and Lucifer Despar from district two. The younger kid was Howl Draconix who was also from district two. While Howl was standing close to Lucifer and laughing, Lucifer looked like he was trying to provoke Bo. The district two boy was shoving him with both of his hands causing Bo to stagger back a little each time he was shoved. Bo was taller then Lucifer, but Lucifer looked like he was stronger then Bo.

"Come one district seven!" I heard Lucifer challenge before shoving Bo again "you gonna do something!? Huh!? I thought district seven's were supposed to be almost career like!?" He then shoved Bo again "you don't look like nothing! Want to prove me wrong!" He then shoved Bo again, who didn't do nothing but take it and look away from his attacker. "I'm talking to you boy!" Lucifer shouted before grabbing his face and turning it towards him "what's wrong seven!? Don't like looking at people!?" As I looked at them, I thought of how Bo didn't look like an older kid right now, but he looked like a younger kid being picked on at school. It reminded me of my sister, Faerie, who was helpless when she got crushed by our horse, Den. Or what Laurel would be like without me, helpless. I saw Lucifer take Bo's white bandana from his head.

And before I knew it, I was right between the two boys.

"Why don't you leave him alone!?" I shouted to Lucifer, who wasn't scrawny or weak, unlike me. Lucifer then held his hands up in the air in mock surrender

"Ohhhhh I'm soooo scared." He mocked at me before leaning towards me "why don't you made me." He laughed. I then pulled back my right hand and threw a fist at his face. It wasn't very strong, but it surprised him so much that he took a few steps back. When he recovered, I didn't even know what happened. Because the next thing I knew, I was in a choke hold. His grip was strong, and I felt my body being cut off from the air around me. His arms were around my neck strangling me. I struggled and tried to get free, but he was too strong for me. "Think your tough now bitch?"

**District six's Rayne Page's POV**

One moment, Life was waving to me and I thought that she'd come over here and we'd practice some spear throwing. Then next moment, I saw her in a choke hold produced by the district two guy. She just had to try and stand up to them, but why? I ran over to her just as the district seven boy grabbed district two boy from behind and put him in a choke hold. Next came two's district partner who climbed up the tall boy and placed him in a choke hold as well. They were all connected to each other, I had to get them to let go of each other before I could rescue Life. I didn't care for the district seven boy, but Life was my ally, I needed to protect her. And if I didn't do it now when she needed help, she'd think that I couldn't be helpful at all. I tried to separate her from the district two boy, but it was impossible with district seven holding onto him. And I couldn't separate him because of district two's little girl. I tried to pry her hands off seven, but she wouldn't let go. So I did what I thought was best, I punched her in the face. Only, when I tried to do it a second time, she moved away and dodged my attack. Suddenly, I was doing what the rest of them were doing, I put the little girl into a choke hold. She may have been from district two, but I was older, and I had been working with heavy tools since I was twelve, and that made me strong.

"Let go of him." I demanded squeezing her neck as hard as I possibly could. Good thing she was small, I had a small frame and my arms weren't exactly big or thick.

"No." She choked resisting my submission. She was tough I'd give her that, but I knew that I was going to win, she'd run out of air before I did.

"We both know who's going to win." I told her as I squeezed harder. Suddenly, I felt big, strong arms wrap around my throat and start straggling me as well. I looked down to see that I was in choke hold as well.

"Me." I heard a male say. Who was that? It had to be the career from one, who else would it be? Great, now we were all in a dead lock with each other, the first to let go or faint would be the loser. Heh, it was kind of funny when you think about it. Six kids all in choke holds trying to force the other to surrender. I just hoped that I wasn't the first to surrender to the lack of air. And I hoped that the boy from one wouldn't snap my neck, accidentally or on purpose, because my neck was also thin, thin, but I hoped not fragile.

Soon my head was pounding, my neck was hurting, and drums were beating in my ears, but nobody had let go of each other. I started to feel faint, but I wouldn't let go. It was me or them, and I wasn't going to back down. "That's enough!" I heard someone shout over the beating of drums. I then felt arms grab my arms while also feeling the arms around my neck be released. I fell to my knees and gasped in the air. I then felt my head start to clear and the drumbeats disappear. Thank god, thank god someone came and stopped this. I looked up to see district mentors standing around us looking displeased with us.

"What's going on?" The district one female mentor asked looking at all of us.

"Nothing." We all said at the same time.

"Nothing huh?" The male mentor from two said not really believing us "Care to tell us the truth?"

"We were just playing." The district two male tribute answered. I looked at him to see that he was in the grasps of my male mentor. "Just playing." Everyone else, myself included, just nodded and agreed. We all didn't want to get in more trouble then we already were in. While the mentors didn't seem satisfied, they told us we could fight as much as we wanted in the arena and separated us.

"Well that could have gone better." I said to no one in particular when the careers were out of ear shot. Damn, I couldn't even choke out a little girl. I was strong, I knew that, but she had resisted me for so long. I looked over to my ally and saw that she was trying to make conversation with district seven guy.

"Here's you bandana back." Life said holding up a white bandana, I guessed that it was district seven's. District seven took it in silence. He placed it back around his head before staring off in the distance. No really looking away, but not exactly looking at the girl that helped him out. "Your name's Bo right?" Life asked the boy "I'm Life." Again, the boy just slightly looked at her but also slightly away in silence. "So, you got any allies?" Life asked. I knew where this was going, no, we weren't going to have this guy with us. He didn't fight back, he'd just be a burden to us.

"No Life," I told my ally thinking of how it was a bad idea to have him "he's not joining us."

"He could be useful," Life told me "I mean, look at him, he looks strong enough to handle himself."

"If he decides to fight back," I told her "I didn't see him take care of himself against the careers." No, because we had to help him fight his own battle. Why'd you get involved Life?

"What weapons are you good at?" Life asked before I grabbed her shirt collar and dragged her away from the district seven boy. We didn't need anyone useless on our team, especially someone that couldn't fend for himself. We could go along just fine, the two of us.

**District eleven's Angel Hale's POV**

Being my district partner, I didn't see why I didn't ask before, it should have been my first choice for an ally. He was nice at the reapings, he didn't seem to be someone mean like some of the other tributes. Plus, he looked strong, that was another plus. He was also skilled with knives and scythes, not surprising since they were farm tools. I was nervous when asking him to join the alliance Sami and I were in. So nervous that I asked Sami to ask him. But her being shy, didn't want to. So I had to do it myself. I didn't want to do it, but I did it anyway. I walked up to him as he was starting to work on camouflage.

"Hi." I said to him as he was painting himself with green and black material. There were spots of black and green all around his torso and about half his face.

"Hi." He smiled back. Ugh, how should I ask him? I hadn't thought of that.

"You want to be allies?" I asked suddenly. Oh crap, why'd I just go all out just ask him like that? That was stupid of me.

"Sure." He said still smiling, unfazed, and surprisingly, happy.

"Really?" I asked hoping that he wasn't kidding around.

"Yeah," He told me happily "in fact, I was thinking of looking for allies, but I didn't know who to ask, so, I'm glad that you asked me." Wow, he was glad that I asked him. I was happy that he said that. The thing was, I felt something for him when he walked up the stage back in the district. He wasn't the best looking guy I ever saw, but there was just something about him that attracted me.

"Your welcome." I told him happily. And there it was again, his smile. Though he was almost always smiling. It made my day to remember that, even though it had only happened around an hour ago. Now our group had three people in it. Two long range and one close range. We were a good group if I say so myself.

Sami and I were trying out the spear station when I saw two older kids approach Aerin while he was lifting weights. Even though Aerin was my age, he sure was lifting a lot. I looked closer and saw that those two kids that were now standing beside him were careers, they were the boys from districts one and four. What did they want with Aerin? I tapped Sami on the shoulder, and when she looked at me I pointed towards Aerin and the two careers. "What do they want?" I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders, she was just as confused as I was. I then decided to get a closer look, see what they were saying, see what those careers wanted. "Come on Sami, lets see what's going on." As Sami and I got closer to them, the words that were coming from their mouths were becoming clearer.

"What do you mean you have other allies?" I heard the big guy from one asked slightly angered from what he heard. I'm sure that Aerin said that he already had allies, and that was us.

"It means that I already have allies." Aerin said to him nicely, trying not to make a fight, unlike some other people earlier today. "Sorry, but, I'm not going to just leave them after I told them I'm going to join them." While the boy from four was calm about it, I could see the bigger, stronger boy from one's hands shaking and had an expression of suppressed anger on his face.

"You'd rather join a group of losers?" The boy from one growled through his teeth, the top and bottom of his teeth hadn't left each other while he spoke. He was clearly angry.

"Ok, calm down." The boy from four said calmly "he doesn't want to join us, his loss." He clearly didn't want a fight to erupt. He then turned to Aerin and calmly said to him "listen, we know how to use weapons, we'll have almost all the supplies from the cornucopia, you'll be guaranteed to survive the bloodbath, what's not to like?"

"I like all of it." Aerin told him still being friendly to them, even though they were trying to get him to do something that he didn't want to do "but I'm not going to abandon my allies." Aerin. He was better then I thought.

"Suit yourself." The boy from four said like he couldn't care less "come one Griffin, lets go." The boy from four then turned away from Aerin before saying "if he wants to die in the bloodbath let him." But the boy from four didn't seem to notice that the district one boy, Griffin, wasn't walking away from Aerin like he was. I saw Aerin pick up a huge weight with one hand and start to work on his muscles, the weight in his hand looked fairly heavy to him. I then saw the district one boy then, with little effort, with one hand, lift up a weight fifteen pounds heavier then the one Aerin was using, and tossed it about twenty five feet. That guy was strong. Very strong.

"You made a big mistake." Griffin said before leaving Aerin by himself. I began to like Aerin even more, and not just as an ally. He didn't stray away from us, not even when the careers made him a deal for him to join them. He wouldn't abandon us, or sell us out. I'm glad your my ally Aerin.

A/N: Ok, day two has started. Ok, I have an idea on what to do for the private training session, but I think I'll skip the interviews, sorry to say.

To all of you saying in your minds "why isn't my tribute mentioned more?" Well let me put it this way, there are twenty three other tributes that I need to focus on to. So yeah, sorry if you character wasn't mentioned as much as you'd like, but I need everyone in this story, not just one tribute. Another note (I think Rayne was a bit OOC, so, sorry if she was.)

Alliances:

Career pack: Griffin, Lynsa, Lucifer, Helena/Howl, Shoney, Evaline/Eva, Arrowe

Tribute pack 1: Sami, Angel, Aerin

Tribute pack 2: Nessa, Max

Tribute pack 3: Rayne, Life

Loners: Zap/Tharizdun, Alexander, Valerie, Ricky, Bo, Dav, December/Ember, Talliana, Colin, Evanlyn/Eve


	12. Training day 2 part 2

Training day two during lunch

**District three's Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone's POV**

While most of the others were sitting by themselves or in small groups, I was never alone, or in a small group. Because I was always surrounded by these bastard peacekeepers. Five of them. I was going to kill those girls anyway, why'd it matter if it was now or later? I looked around the room to see who'd be my first. There were six that I really wanted, the rest were too old for my liking. I felt something tap on the back of my head, probably a peacekeeper weapon.

"What are you looking at?" I heard one peacekeeper asked.

"What do you think?" I told him knowing what he was thinking, it was obvious.

"Fuck, is that all you think about?" The peacekeeper sighed and snarled "raping and killing little girls!?" No, I also think about killing you. I mean, what little else could I think about? I couldn't eat because of this blasted mask. I couldn't kill with you people around. I couldn't wait to get into the arena where I could have the freedom to kill those lovely girls and do what I want. In there, there was nothing that could stop me.

"What's your favorite body part?" I asked him.

"What?" He asked surprised

"What's your favorite body part, body part, body part, body part?"

"Why are you asking me this?" The peacekeeper asked confused. He was confused, so I told him

"I want to know which body part to cut off her." I said pointing to a girl with a girl with black curls with the number eight on her back. I felt something slam the back of my head. It sounded like it would hurt. But it didn't hurt, nothing hurt me.

"Fuck you!" A man shouted "I hope you die in the bloodbath!" You would hope, everyone hoped that. But you don't always get what you want, unless you make it happen. Like I do. Like I did.

*After lunch*

**District five's Alexander Natas's POV**

I felt someone run into me and almost knock me on my back. God! Watch where you're going! For fucks sake, how hard is it to run into a person! I looked down to see a little thirteen year old boy looking up at me with fear in his eyes. Yeah, that's right, fear me, because I could kill you right here and now little boy.

"I'm sorry." He said full of fear "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going and I got distracted by my ally who I was talking to, I'm sorry that I ran into you, I just didn't see you." You talk too much kid, cutting off your tongue should take care of that.

"It's all right kid." I said reaching out to him, offering my hand to help him up. He looked at my hand for a couple seconds before accepting it. I helped him to his feet and smiled at him "don't run so fast next time." All in good nature, until someone losses their legs.

"Thanks." He said happily to me, mostly from relief, before running off with the twelve year old from three. Both so small, so weak, so helpless. They wouldn't put up much of a fight in the arena. I then walked over to my favorite weapon station, knives. They weren't the best choice weapons of the arena, but they could do so much. Stab, slash, scalp, fella, and more. I tried every weapon there was to offer in this training center, but none of them made as much of an impression on my as a knife. I went over to the training station and picked up a survival knife. I felt the weight of the knife in my hand and held it in my right hand loving the feel of it. I walked over to a training dummy and stabbed it repeatedly in the stomach before slashing its neck a few times and kicked it down. It landed with a thud and I was pleased with the work that I did. I turned back to select a different knife when I saw a girl around my age at the knife station. Hmmm, interesting, not a lot of people came near here because of the guy from three. And surprisingly, she wasn't here for the knives. I saw that she was talking to one of the five peacekeepers that were constantly around the district three giant. The district eight girl, December her name was, but she called herself Ember. She was talking to the oldest peacekeeper who looked around fifty years old or something. I listened in to their conversation.

"I still can't believe it's you." I heard her say to the old peacekeeper. The two of them then walked away from the district three male and the other peacekeepers before continuing their conversation. I returned the knife I was holding to where it was before I got it and got close to them. Not too close though, I was still at the knife section, but I could hear what those two were talking about.

"I can't believe it's you as well." The old peacekeeper said as he hugged the girl from eight. "December Juliet Varen, you've grown up a lot since I moved." They then broke apart before the girl December asked

"Why are you here? I mean, why now?" I heard the old man sigh and look at the district three male. I heard he was a psychopath, a monster, the worst that anyone could be. "Bad luck I guess."

"It has to be more then bad luck." The girl said to the peacekeeper, who I thought had some deep connection to the district eight girl. "It's just too perfect, you were there, I was home, now we're both here. Do you think that capital did this? Or do you think those up there want to punish us?" When she said up there, she pointed to the sky. Up to where god was. God, if there was anyone he was punishing it was me. He made my life a living hell. Making me what I was and taking my parents away from me.

"I don't know what made it happen," the peacekeeper told her "but we're here now, and there's nothing we can do about it." I then saw her crying, what was she crying about?

"I hate it here," She told him "I hate training to kill, I hate having to watch other kids kill, I just hate these games." She then looked at the peacekeeper in the face and asked "why did we have to meet this way father?" Father? This guy was her dad? Talk about horrible timing. She's going to the games, and he gets to see her go off into them.

"I don't know." He answered sadly "I don't know." They then made more small talk before they hugged one last time and the girl went away crying while the dad came back to his group of peacekeepers. I walked over to him before saying

"Nice girl isn't she?" I asked him. He looked at me with both anger and surprise.

"What do you want?" He asked not so nicely

"I just want to say I'm sorry," I told him "I mean, the timing of this, to see someone you love in this situation. I mean, it must suck, ." A look of shock then formed on his face

"How do you know my name?" He asked suspiciously and scared. I gave a little laugh before answering him

"You weren't exactly giving yourself a low profile when you were talking to your little girl over there." I then saw the words register on the other peacekeepers faces, they were shocked to hear that as well, but not as shocked as the December's father. "Oh," I said looking at the other peacekeepers "you didn't know?" From their looks, they didn't.

"He's got a daughter?" A deep, evil voice asked. I looked ahead of the peacekeepers and saw that the giant from three was now standing up and looking in my direction. He was the tallest person I had ever seen, he was well over six feet tall. He was also muscular. He also had a face muzzle on his face for whatever reason it was for him having it on. I looked up to him and smiled

"Yeah, this guy here has a daughter that's a tribute in the games." I told him while pointing to . "She's the pretty little girl over there." I said pointing to December who was working on editable foods.

"Bastards," snarled "both of you." Worried for his daughter, just like any father would be. But there was something that he probably knew as well, something that all of us knew about.

"How old is she?" The giant asked looking over at her.

"Fifteen I believe." I told him. I then felt as if he was smiling, smiling in a cheerful way. That might have scared some other kids, but not me.

"You fucks." snarled at us again "you leave my daughter alone." Threatening us was he? What did he think he was? He can't stop anyone from hurting his little girl in the games. He turned to me and looked at me angrily "I've seen you around albino, you act all nice on the outside, but I know that inside, you're like him." He said pointing to the giant from three. I then started to laugh. He was right, I acted all nice to the other tributes to make them not worry about me. The only tribute that knew about my true nature was Valerie. Now he knew.

"Ok," I told him "you want to know my true nature fine. Let me tell you a story of three bears, you know what bears are, don't you ?"

"Yeah, I do." He answered still looking at me intensely

"Good." I told him unfazed by his stare "so, there are three bears, a father bear, a mother bear, and a little girly bear. Now, papa bear finds that his little baby bear i all had grown and can't believe it's her. They then spend some time with each other, catch up and all that. But before he knows it, baby bear is being hunted."

"Yeah, by hunters who trap her in a cage." He snarled angrily at me. So he got the symbolization of the three bears, he even added in the hunters, which I was going to add.

"Actually, no." I explained to him. He was half right, but still wrong. "You see, papa bear is really the one who gets caught in a bear trap and has to watch his little baby bear get attacked by the hunters."

"No!" He shouted "She's helplessly trapped in a cage with people trying to kill her, how as I the one trapped!?" I smiled at him

"Because papa bear, your little baby bear is helpless before your very eyes. And there's nothing you can do about it. Because wither it's this hunter," I said pointing to myself "or that hunter," I said pointing to the giant "or any other hunter here," I said spinning my arms while pointing in the general direction of every tribute in the room "one of is going to kill baby bear, and maybe wear her pelt as a trophy." That didn't seem like such a bad idea now that I thought about it.

"No," said to me full of anger "I take back what I said before, you two aren't alike, he kills for himself, he's a psychopath. But you," he said pointing to me "your a sadist, a sadistic sociopath. I don't know which is worse." I don't even know what sociopath means.

"Whatever." I told him as I turned my back and walked away from him and his group of peacekeepers.

**District one's Lynsa Fylar's POV**

Griffin had taken that Aerin's rejection kind of far. He was beating some training dummies beyond repair with a mace, in fact, if you didn't know that it was a training dummy, you wouldn't even know what it was before, it looked like a giant pile of stuffing. He was scaring the other tributes near us, but I wasn't about to ask him to stop, I'd seen him at school while he was enraged, you try to stop him and things wouldn't end up well for one or both of you.

"Spazz much isn't he." Howl said to nobody in particular. It didn't sound like a question.

"Is he like this often?" I heard Eva asked me looking at Griffin beating yet another training dummy with a heavy mace.

"Only when you make him mad." I told her. It was a while, but Griffin finally looked like he calmed down enough to start being civilized again. Griffin was breathing heavily from swinging a mace up and down, left and right, for almost five minutes. For five minutes, he silently beat the training dummies beyond repair.

"Oh look," Howl announced "its calm again." Then Griffin punched a training dummy in it's face so hard that the head flew off. Everyone in the career pack seemed to follow the head as it sailed through the air and landed on the ground with a soft, but not quiet, thud. The head rolled a couple feet before stopping.

"Are those training dummies realistic?" Arrowe asked us looking at the training dummy head, then to the training dummy.

"No." All the careers except Griffin answered at the same time. He was probably worried that if he got hit by Griffin, his head would fly off like a ball in a basket. But thankfully, if you got hit in the head by Griffin, your head wouldn't fly off your neck. Though you'd probably be able to do little to stop what came next. Griffin then took his place beside me. At least he was calm enough now to be civilized.

"Ok," Eva said to us "now for the final plan, though I'm not sure it's the best idea." We all knew where this was going, the last part of our training room strategy, the one that we did, but also didn't, want to do. We had been discussing wither we should have the district three male on our team for the past two days. His size and build was beyond even Griffin, but the only weapon he seemed to know about were the knives, and that was the only station that he went to, in fact, he stayed there the whole time. Other then that, he seemed insane. Mentally, unstably, no doubt about it, insane. I overheard the district three girl once say to her ally, the boy from ten, that he had killed twenty seven girls and burned his house down, with his parents and siblings inside. And what's more, I just couldn't get over the fact that five peacekeepers had to constantly be with him as well as him wearing a face muzzle to prevent him from doing something to everyone else.

"I though we decided this an hour ago," Lucifer reminded us "we take him, and if he causes trouble, there's seven of us and one of him, with weapons." Yeah, that was our plan, take him, and if he's trouble, kill him, just like that. And what did Griffin tell us? Better to have him as an ally then an enemy? Well, I don't think you should have enemies that too close to you.

"So who's going to ask him?" Eva asked "not I."

"Not I." The rest of the careers, including me, shouted. I sure didn't want to go near him, not with what I heard about him.

"You, new guy," Lucifer said pointing to Arrowe "get over there and ask him."

"No way, why should I ask him?" Arrowe said clearly not liking the idea "I don't want to lose my head, you ask him."

"No way, I did my job provoking district seven." Lucifer then looked at Griffin "you big guy, you go ask him." Griffin seemed like the best choice, he was the biggest and the strongest one among us.

"Fine." He said looking at all of us while saying the next words "someone come with me." Shoney and Howl then followed behind him as they went towards the knife station.

"You think that those three will be enough is something goes wrong?" Eva asked looking at the three careers going towards the insane psychopath. "I mean, look at the size of Howl, and at the reapings, it took over five peacekeepers to bring that guy down." She was right, remembering the district three reapings, it took more then five peacekeepers, plus the help of some common people to force that guy down. "All of you, follow me." Eva commanded. Everyone must have been thinking the same thing, because everybody in the career pack was now at the knife training station.

"Sure, I'll join." The district three male answered just as Eva, Lucifer, Arrowe and I arrived. Seeing him up close, he was even scarier then he was in the reapings, but I didn't want to show that I was sacred, so I just stood there normally. Not showing any emotion. "After all, this could be the best thing for me, for me, for me, for me." Were we really going to be alright with this guy around us?

A/N: Ok, training day two, part two is over. Lunch on training day three is up next followed by the private sessions.

So what'd you guys think? Good? Bad? Ok? Advice always helps.

There's a reason I choose Alexander to talk about bears. If you can say why I choose bears, I'll give you a virtual cookie or something.

Alliances:

Career pack: Griffin, Lynsa, Lucifer, Helena/Howl, Shoney, Evaline/Eva, Arrowe, Zap/Tharizdun

Tribute pack 1: Sami, Angel, Aerin

Tribute pack 2: Nessa, Max

Tribute pack 3: Rayne, Life

Loners: Alexander, Valerie, Ricky, Bo, Dav, December/Ember, Talliana, Colin, Evanlyn/Eve.


	13. Training day 3

Training day three during lunch

**District four's Evaline "Eva" Ellery's POV**

"So what are you guys going to show the gamemakers?" I asked my allies. We were at day three of training, the last day to do anything that we missed or wanted to polish up on before the games. Now we were in the lunch room eating and discussing what we were going to show the gamemakers, or how we were going to show them. There was a lot of pressure on us careers to preform well.

"I'm going to shoot arrows," Lynsa told us proud of herself "lots and lots of arrows." Bows and arrows, that was her weapon of choice. She could shoot arrows really fast and very accurately, I wouldn't want to be in front of her if I was an enemy.

"And?" A little girl's voice asked curiously, like she expected something more.

"And? What do you mean and?" Lynsa asked "I told you what I'm doing, it's not like I can use every weapon that they have to offer." I'd hate to see a tribute be able to use every weapon at their disposal.

"Arn't you going to make it interesting?" Howl asked "I mean, shooting arrows? That's it? Why don't you do a bunch of combat rolls and attack the targets while doing back flips or something?" Great plan, if you could actually do it.

"I'll think about it." Lynsa answered. I then turned to her district partner before asking him

"What are you going to do Griffin?" He was probably going to show off how strong he was with a mace, that seemed to be his best weapon, bludgeoning objects. That and his strength.

"Stuff." Griffin answered simply. Ok, that gave me a clear picture.

"What kind of stuff?" Lucifer asked also wondering what he was going to do

"Good stuff." Griffin answered simply again. Well that just made the picture clearer I thought sarcastically.

"Well I'm doing good stuff too Griff, but at least I'm still going to say it to the group."

"So what are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to show them my skills with knives and speed." He answered proudly.

"Boy," I heard Howl say to Lucifer "I've got more skills with knives in my pinky fingernail that you have in your entire body."

"So you throw knives," Lucifer said back not really insulting her but not exactly being nice either "big deal."

"Bet you I can get a higher score then you." Howl challenged with her trademark arrogant smirk.

"Your on." Lucifer quickly accepted. Two knife users, one close range, one long range, both district two. But one was the youngest you could be while the other was the oldest you could be.

"What are you going to do Shoney?" I asked my district partner, who seemed to have his mind wondering someplace else.

"What do you think would happen if I shoot a dart at a gamemaker?" He asked. The rest of us looked at him like he was crazy. Why would he even think of that?

"You'd die." Lynsa told him bluntly. That seemed to be the truth, attack a gamemaker, pay the price. They'd make your life a living hell in the arena.

"Just wondering." Shoney answered like it was nothing. He then turned to us and asked "so, what were we talking about?" I sighed. He wasn't even paying attention.

"What are you going to show the gamemakers?" I asked before seriously telling him "don't even think about shooting something at the gamemakers."

"What's wrong with thinking it?" He asked almost emotionlessly "It's not like I'm going to do it."

"So in other words, you haven't thought of something good to show them." Lucifer said

"Guess not." Shoney answered

"Well anyone that gets a seven or lower gets kicked out of the career pack." Howl announced "eight is the minimum to stay in." Eight, the lowest a career could get to stay with the career pack. I had never seen a career get anything lower then an eight on purpose. You'd know if a career was doing it on purpose because they'd get a one or two. Those years were interesting to me, I wondered what had gone through those careers heads. Why didn't they want to join the careers? They had everything they needed, and more. Were they like me? They just didn't want to be around people like that? Or was it something else? But that hardly ever happened.

I looked at Shoney, who didn't seem worried at all. I saw him talking to another group, the one with the two district elevens and the orange haired girl Sami, did he have a plan with them?

"You hear that reaped career?" Lucifer's voice announced to me "eight or higher."

"Yeah yeah I hear you." I told him "I'll think of something to impress you guys."

"See that you do." Lucifer told me before turning to the multi-coloured eyes of Arrowe. "What are you going to do?" He asked.

"Probably show them my agility." Arrowe answered

"No weapons?"

"I don't know, maybe." I then felt all heads look towards our newest recruit.

"All that leaves is him." I said looking at the biggest, strongest looking, most insane tribute here. He wasn't even looking at us, in fact, he didn't even seem to be paying attention to anything we were saying.

"Don't ask him," a young peacekeeper told us "he isn't listening, he's in that fucked up world of his right now." What world was that? "And a word to all of you, you all made a big mistake bringing him into the group, especially you little girl." I looked back and Howl, and she didn't seem to be too happy to be called little girl.

"There's seven of us and one of him." Lucifer told the young peacekeeper "how much trouble could it be?"

"You have no idea." The young peacekeeper answered.

**District seven's Bo Heatherfield's POV**

Sitting alone wasn't that big of a deal to me, in fact, I preferred it that way. I mean, what did people really talk about? How was your day? How are you? I didn't like talking about my day, and people didn't need to know how I was. I mean, I talked to Jimmy sometimes, but that was rarely. Very rare. And when that happened, only a couple of words were exchanged. And the only people that really kind of know me are Luke and Floopy, but that's because their my cousins or something. I don't say anything because, what do people want to hear? I looked around at all the other tributes, most alone, some in groups. Loners silent, alliances not.

They were probably talking about what to show the gamemakers. How well can you kill? How well can you murder another kid? That was my worst fear, killing someone. And I just couldn't see how kids could kill other kids, or how anyone could kill anyone. I wouldn't let them see that I was a weak kid that they could pick off though, even though I wasn't going to kill them, I was going to scare them. Or at least try too. District seven, the home of ax wielders. I was going to show people to be scared of me, so that they would stay away from me, so that I wouldn't have to kill them. I'll hide in the arena and not be spotted by anyone. After all, that's what I'm good at, hiding. I try not to make myself noticed, but then those district two jerks started to harass me, then that girl from district ten came into the picture, Life she said she was, and made us the center of attention by picking a fight with district two. I didn't fight back for a reason, they'd leave eventually. But then you had to help me. When that district two guy put you in a headlock, I couldn't just let him do that, so I helped you, and that got me choked.

But that fully, your ally came for us, but she then got attacked as well. Allies, it would be good to have allies. But at the same time, not. I looked at the bread from my home district and sighed. I missed home, back when life was easier, all I did was hide, work, school, and not draw attention to myself. That's what I planned to do here, hide, work, learn, and not draw attention to myself, but already, things were not going that way. But if I played it right in the arena, I could win without killing a single person.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but I think that's all that was needed for lunch. Ok, up next, private sessions.

Nobody figured out why I choose bears? Anyone?

Alliances:

Career pack: Griffin, Lynsa, Lucifer, Helena/Howl, Shoney, Evaline/Eva, Arrowe, Zap/Tharizdun

Tribute pack 1: Sami, Angel, Aerin

Tribute pack 2: Nessa, Max

Tribute pack 3: Rayne, Life

Loners: Alexander, Valerie, Ricky, Bo, Dav, December/Ember, Talliana, Colin, Evanlyn/Eve.


	14. Private sessions

Head gamemaker's POV

I couldn't wait to see what the tributes had to show us this year. I was excited to see what they had up their sleeves. For two and a half days the other gamemakers and I watched the tributes train in public, we observed them, took notes, studied them. I saw lots of potential in this year's tributes. Some of them made an impression on me, good and bad. But now was the big question, were they hiding things from their fellow tributes? Or did they show us everything that they could do? I took a sip of wine from by clear glass cup and called the first tribute up while also making a mental note to myself, don't drink too much wine. Too much wine made me drunk, obviously, and made me lose focus on the tributes. Most of the other gamemakers often did that and missed out on the good tributes from later districts. It wasn't fair to them because some of them could have pulled off good scores if the gamemakers had paid attention. I did that on my first year of game making, big mistake. I was going to give every tribute a fair seeing. Even if it was only me.

First up came district one's Griffin Holloway. Griffin was tall, strong, and an over all good career. Though I had noticed that when he was angry, he was angry. Griffin then walked into the middle of the room before looking at us, waiting for us to tell him to go forward.

"Show us what you've got." I told him. Griffin then turned and looked at the various weapons at his disposal. I then saw him walk to a barrel full of swords and pull out a big, thick, broad sword. The sword looked weightless in his hands as he tested the sword by swinging it around cutting the air in front of him. He nodded his head in approval and walked over the some training dummies. He then started to hack and slash the dummies with expert skill. He slashed their torsos, stabbed them, beheaded them, and took out multiple targets with ease. And not only that, he was slicing some of the training dummies through the tops of their heads and cutting them to almost the bottom of the torso. And to add to that, he also threw in some hand to hand combat by punching and kicking dummies in the face and chest as well as bashing them with the hilt of the sword. He then threw the sword at another training dummy and it wedged deeply into its chest. Griffin then ran over and grabbed a bow and some arrows. He loaded up the bow started shooting at the bullseye targets. He wasn't perfect at aiming, but he could pull off some kill shoots with those arrows. I remembered that he hadn't went near swords during the two training days, but he had practiced with archery a bit. Griffin had shot about six targets with the bow and arrows before he announced he was done. I then dismissed him and he walked out the exit before the avoxs cleaned up the training area. As they did that, I took some notes on Griffin and saw the others doing the same. They were doing fine now, but I wondered how well they'd do by the time district six came.

Next up, I called in Lynsa Fylar. The golden blond haired girl that had excellent skills with bows and arrows. She was one of the fastest shooters I had ever seen. And she hit the targets either dead on or close enough to dead on as you could get. "You may begin." I told her. She then instantly headed for the bows and arrows. She examined the different kinds of bows before picking a long bow. It was a powerful weapon, if you knew, and could, use it. She then selected her arrows before looking down the shooting range. She loaded and arrow, quickly aimed at a target, and fired. The long bow was powerful, so the arrow went through half of the wooden bullseye, but I could still see that it went in the direct center. Then suddenly, another arrow was fired, followed by another, and another, and another. Lynsa then did a shoulder roll to the right and quickly got to one knee and fired at another target, and hit it dead center, before doing a back roll and shooting at a training dummy and hitting it right in the middle of the head before quickly turning right and shooting another training dummy right between the eyes. She was good, really good. She had done all that in a matter of seconds. Not even twenty seconds had passed and she had done all that. Her aim was quick and true, and she could dodge and fire quickly as well. Lynsa then placed her weapons down and looked up to us. I looked over to see most of the other gamemakers nodding their heads in approval. "Nicely done," I told her "you may go now." She then nodded to us before leaving. Lynsa was a dangerous long range attacker, she was quick, she was accurate, she was deadly. I wrote down some notes on Lynsa while the avoxs took out the arrows from the targets. Though they were having a hard time because the arrows were wedged in deeply. Long bows had a lot of tension in them, it wasn't an easy to pull the string back.

When the avoxs were done their work, I called in the next next tribute, Helena 'Howl' Draconix. Another member of the Draconix family I thought as I saw her walk in. What would she show us? How would this little twelve year old impress us? The Draconix family was full of victors or trainers, it wouldn't surprise me if she received at least an eight. She looked up at us and I told her that she may begin. She then looked over at the weapons. She then went over to the weapons, but then passed them. What was she doing? She was going over to, the plant section? I then saw her start to mix a brew of plants and other materials into a bowl. After five minutes, she had half a medium size bowl bull of black liquid. What was that? Helena then selected a bow, not a small bow, but by no means something impressive. I hadn't seen her shoot before, was she any good? She then took three arrows and dipped the tips of the arrows in to the black liquid. Was it poison? Was that black liquid poison? She then loaded up the bow and shot at some training dummies hitting two in the head and one directly in the heart. She then threw her bow down on the ground and walked over to the throwing knives section. She selected some knives before returning to where she had shot the arrows and dipped the tips of the knives in the black liquid/poison, before throwing them into the heads and hearts or training dummies. When she ran out of knives, she went back to the weapons station and selected a crossbow. She loaded a bolt into it, quickly dipped the tip of the bolt into the black liquid, and fired the bolt right into the center of the bullseye target. She then announced that she was finished. I then told her that she may go. She nodded her head before leaving. As the avoxs walked towards the weapons she had used and thrown, she turned around and announced

"Oh, by the way, those knives, arrows, and crossbow bolt, are all covered in poison." I knew it. With that known, the avoxs avoided touching the tips of the weapons, in fact, they seemed to not want to touch them at all. But they did it anyway.

After they cleaned up the targets, we asked for our next tribute, Lucifer Despar. This district two boy interested me, even though he had some kind of muscular body, he didn't seem to be as strong as he looked. Instead, he was fast, the fastest I had seen people run. He stood in the center of the room before I told him

"Begin." Then before our eyes, he quickly sprinted to the knives and picked up two of them before sprinting to a group of training dummies. He ran into the middle of the pack. Now he was surrounded by five dummies with him in the center. He then quickly slashed at a dummy's torso with one knife before stabbing the dummy to the right of it with the other. He then back kicked the dummy directly behind him in the torso causing it to fall to the floor. Lucifer then retracted the knives from their torsos before moving his body to the left, as if to dodge an attack, then twisted to the right and slashed a dummy in the neck before rolling to the left. While he was rolling, he slashed a dummy's legs before quickly getting to his feet and stabbing it in the back of the head. Lucifer then ran to the fallen dummy that he had kicked and stomped on it's head before throwing both his knives at the two dummies that he had attacked first, at close range, hitting them both in the head. Lucifer then lifted his foot up again and crushed the fallen dummy's neck.

"And that's how its done!" He shouted to us. He was fast and good at close range combat.

"Good job," I told him "you may go." And with that, he sprinted out of the room in less then two seconds. He was very fast.

Taking a bite of roast ham, I thought about the next tribute, Zap 'Tharizdun' Philistone. I read his file when training day one started. Unstable, psychopathic, uncaring, and more. He believed himself to the incarnation of a chained god of evil and insanity, Tharizdun.

"Send him in." I told the peacekeepers escorting him. He always had five peacekeepers by his side, but for now, the peacekeepers would wait out by the exit, this was supposed to be private after all, and the only way you could be in here with us and the tributes is if you got clearance by either me or the president. I told the president that we'd be fine with the barrier protecting us and she had no problem with leaving that guy unguarded. The peacekeepers didn't like that, but they had to obey. I got the avoxs to come behind the barrier so that they wouldn't be in danger as well. I saw Zap look around, probably amazed that they left him alone with no peacekeepers around. "You may begin." I told him hoping that he wouldn't try to insanely attack us. But all I saw him do was walk over to the knifes and pick out one at random. He held it in his right hand and walked calmly over to a set of training dummies. And what he did simply amazed me, I thought that he'd attack them in rage. But the way he attacked them was highly skilled, he stabbed with precision and expertly cut down the dummies. He then picked up the last dummy by the neck, with one hand, his left hand, and throw it at another set of dummies that were about fifty feet away. Those training dummies weighed about fifty pounds each, and he effortlessly threw one fifty feet with one hand. I then looked at the dummies that he had slashed and stabbed, some of them were ripped in half by the knife that he used, almost as much as the dummies that Griffin had cut up with a sword.

"Now watch this." Zap said through his metal mask. I wondered what was behind that mask of his. I then saw him turn the knife around, and stab himself in the stomach, not once, not twice, but three times. I gasped at what I saw, but other gamemakers screamed out in fright and confusion, and some even dropped what they were holding. He attacked himself, and didn't even shout out or anything. "I feel no pain." He told us before dropping the bloody knife to the floor. He didn't even look fazed by it. Blood ran from his wounds before he started to walk out of the room like nothing happened. By the time the shock wore off me, he was gone. Holy hell, that guy was beyond anything I had ever seen before. He was strong, skilled, and immune to pain. As the avoxs cleaned the area of blood and torn dummies, I quickly wrote down my thoughts before calling in the next tribute, the twelve year old from his district.

In came Nessa Christine Johnston, the reaped twelve year old. She didn't look like she belonged in the games, but, what could you do? She was reaped. She looked right at us as I told her

"You may begin." She then looked around rather quickly, like she was trying to get rid of extra energy stored up in her. She then ran towards a coil of rope and began to tie the rope into something. She tied it on metal poles and tied knots on it. Around ten minutes later, she came up with what I'd guess was a trap of some sort. She then ran over to the nearest training dummy before she started to drag it. Or, at least, she tried to. She had a hard time getting the training dummy to go anywhere. When it fell down, she decided to pull on it, but it didn't go any better then it had last time. Little by little, it moved toward the trap that she had created. She grunted a lot as she slowly got the dummy to where she wanted to get it, and my that time, she was sweating all over.

"Finally." I heard her wheeze "stupid thing, why do you have to be so heavy." She said bitterly. She then, with great effort, lifted it to it's feet, only to push it into the rope's path and send it dangling in the air suspended by its feet. That was some good stuff for a twelve year old. It would come handy in the arena when she has to hunt for food. "Ok!" I heard her call to us "I'm done!"

"Ok then," I called back to her "you can go then." She then quickly walked to the door and left. The avoxs then cut down the trap and placed the dummy back to its original position before I called in the next tribute.

The next tribute to enter was Evaline Ellery, but she seemed to prefer being called Eva. She was the only reaped career this year. Was she good? In training she seemed to be your average career.

"Show us your stuff." I told her. She then went over to the knives and also grabbed a whip along the way. Interesting, not many tributes used whips. She then headed over to some training dummies before stabbing away at them. She stabbed some of the dummies in the torsos before throwing a couple of knives at some dummies a fair distance away. She then used the whip to grab another knife from out of her reach and bring it towards her. She flicked the whip that had a knife at its tip, and the knife flew towards her before she caught it with her right hand. She then stabbed a dummy in the head before using the whip to slash a dummy in the chest behind her. Impressive work. She then dropped her weapons and we told her that she could leave now, and she did. I took some notes before taking a sip of wine and calling in the next district four tribute.

In walked in Shoney Germoal. During training, I didn't see anything really that impressive about him, he was a different kind of career in my opinion.

"You may begin." I told him.

"You know what I learned?" He asked, and before anyone could say anything he continued "I learned that some plants look the same, but they have totally different effects." Looks like it wasn't really a question to be answered. "And that a shelter made out of only leaves and twigs can be as good as a tent? Or that you can start eating yourself if your hungry enough? Or that you can make tea out of pine needles?" He then started to say all the survival techniques that he had seen or heard from trainers or other tributes. Then he started to say what he learned about the weapons in the training center and voiced his opinion on them. Somewhere between sword thrusting and dart throwing, I looked around to see that some of the gamemakers had started to drink their wine. They didn't want to hear tributes talking, they wanted to see tributes doing. I, on the other hand, thought that it was interesting. You don't always win by combat. When Shoney was done talking, he then ran towards a group of dummies and slid beneath them before swing around another and doing a U-turn and showing other ways do dodge attacks. He then ran to a far corner of the room and jumped into a large flower vase. And I don't know wither to be more surprised to see him go into it or that the flower vase didn't break. It looked too small for someone to fit into. Looks like he was nimble, and could turn his body awkwardly to fit into tight spaces. "Uhhh," I heard him say from the vase "this vase is smaller then I thought." I saw a couple of avoxs run towards the vase and tip it over. I then saw that Shoney had his arms and legs twisted in odd angles. But he managed to hide in a vase that I thought that he might have never managed to even fit into. The avoxs pulled him out easily before he got his body back to normal and looked up at us. "I'm ok."

"Is that all?" I asked wondering if he had anything else we should worry about. He then walked over to the knives, picked on up, and stabbed a dummy in the head.

"I know how to kill just so you know." He said before he walked towards the exit "just so you know." He said stopped at the door.

"Ok," I told him "you may go." Then he was out. Well that was strange.

Next up was the red eyed, white haired albino of district five, Alexander Natas. He had his hair cut before the chariot tour began, that meant that we could see both his red eyes. In both those eyes, all I could see was hatred in them. I looked up with his intense stare and I could hear some of the other gamemakers muttering how much of a freak he was. I didn't say anything though.

"You may-" I started, but then I saw him run towards the knifes and pick out one of the most deadly looking ones before running over to a training dummy. The albino then half jumped, half tackled the dummy to the ground. When the dummy slammed to the ground, Alexander positioned himself on the dummy and began to stab the dummy violently. The stuffing then began to fly up into the air with reach retracted thrust and began raining down on the albino. He continued to do that for nearly ten minutes, and by that time, the dummy was nothing but a hollow shell, and that was an overstatement, there wasn't even a body left, everything was ripped to pieces the size of my palm or smaller. The boy then stood up and threw the knife to the ground before I shouted "You can go!"

"Fine!" He shouted before storming off. That boy had anger issues, but he sure could murder.

After the avoxs cleaned up the violent mess, I called in the next tribute, Valerie Snake. I hadn't seen anything impressive from her, she was an average tribute, but she might surprise us.

"You may begin." I told her. She then went over to the knife section and started to stab a training dummy. And very badly might I say. She hadn't stabbed with the skill of Eva or Lucifer, but she also didn't powerfully do it like her district partner did. She made no impressions on us when she left.

We then called in the district six girl, Rayne Page. The multi-blond haired girl walked in here with an air of confidence, but I doubt the others would see that, because they were now starting to drink. The careers were done with, they didn't think that anyone else would be interesting. They weren't drunk, not yet, but they were buzzed.

"You may begin." I told her. I then saw her look towards the sword section. Hmmm, interesting, her was mostly good with knives, but I never saw her go towards the swords during training. She walked towards the barrel of swords and began digging through the barrel. Was she looking for a pacific kind of sword? My question was answered when I saw her pull out a Kukri. One and a half feet long and curved a little more then half way through. That was an odd weapon for a tribute to use. She then examined the weapon before throwing it at a group of training dummies. The kukri sliced through a dummies neck as Rayne was quickly running towards the group of dummies. She then punched on dummy in the face before her weapon boomeranged back to her. She caught the handle of the weapon before slicing the dummy she punched. She then twisted the handle, she was now holding the weapon backwards, and stabbed the dummy behind her repeatedly. She then retracted the blade from the dummy's torso and gave a sharp one-eighty turn and sliced though it's neck before turning to the right and started to climb up a thick piece of rope while still holding the weapon. She then used one hand to throw the weapon through the top of a dummy's head while being suspended thirty feet in the air. She then slide down the rope before landing on the ground and pushing the dummy with the weapon in the crown of it's head over. The dummy crashed to the ground and all I could think of was, this girl was impressive. She was like a career with that weapon. "You may leave now." I told her. She nodded before leaving the room. I looked to the other gamemakers and saw that they were impressed to. I then saw an avox standing my the door holding his hand out like he wanted something. She then sighed and handed over a knife. Did she steal it? I then sent the avoxs to clean up the mess.

Next tribute that came up was Ricky Coler. I don't remember too much about him, he just seemed to slip my mind every time. Then when he came in, I saw his pale skin and his almost black eyes. Oh yeah, now I remember who he was. That still didn't mean that I remembered much of him.

"You may begin." I told him. Ricky then went over to the spear section and started to spear dummies at midrange. He wasn't good, but he wasn't bad either. When he was done, he had mostly stabbed the dummies in the torso, but a few lucky shots got to the head as well. "You may go." I told her before he left. There wasn't much for the avoxs to clean up this time.

Next came in district seven's Bo Heatherfield. As far as I could see from him, he hadn't uttered a single word during the three days we observed him.

"Whenever you're ready." I told him. I then saw him immediately go towards the axes. When he got to the weapons he picked up a couple of hatchets before walking over to a group of dummies. Then he started to chop off the dummies head to ease using his duel hatchets and before long, there were five dummy heads rolling before his feet. He then quickly turned to two bullseye targets and threw the axes at them. They both hit the bullseyes, blades first. Bo, he was from district seven, so I shouldn't have expected anything less, but during training, he did mostly survival stations and archery. I looked down at my notes and saw that he never even went near the axes. Maybe he didn't need to. I looked up and said "you may-" but he was already out the door. Ok then. I then told the avoxs to clean up the mess that was made in nearly thirty seconds.

When the avoxs were done their work, I called in the next tribute, Sami Lavisa. I looked at my notes as she walked in. She didn't seem to be much of a threat when she was training, but she could have just been hiding her abilities. I looked up from my notes to see her waiting for me to tell her to start.

"You may begin." I told her. I then saw her walk towards the bows and arrows before selecting a standard sized bow. She then looked over and I saw another thing catch her eye. She grabbed some arrows before walking over to some dart shooters and some darts. She then slung the dart shooter over her shoulder and placed the darts into her pockets before looking back at us. I looked back to her to see what she was planning on doing. I looked over to see that the other gamemakers were less enthusiastic. They had started to drink again. I looked back to Sami and shook my head telling her to continue. She then turned back to a group of dummies and shot them with her arrows. She wasn't that fast, but she was accurate. But the others had seen Lynsa's abilities, and to them, this was nothing. She then walked over to a ladder made of rope and started to climb up it. Then while hanging from the ladder, she pulled out her dart shooter and shot at the dummies. She then climbed up higher and shot at them with arrows and darts. It wasn't the best thing, but it was still good. She climbed down the ladder and I told her that she could go. She nodded before going out. I was probably the only one that noticed that all her shoots were lethal.

Next up was district eight, and this was going better then expected, the other gamemakers weren't drunk, at least not yet, but they were getting there. I called in the next tribute, December Juliet Varen, also known as Ember. Bit of bad luck for her to see her father here, but there was nothing that could be done about that. I saw her standing there looking at us before I said

"Begin when you're ready." She then walked over to the throwing knives and picked up six of them. She then turned towards six bullseye targets and started to throw them. She was better then normal tributes, but she still wasn't as good as careers. Her knives struck the bullseye, but it wasn't center. And for that, the gamemakers didn't pay that much attention, but I could hear some slight clapping from some. But that still didn't mean that they were impressed. "You may go now." I told her, and she did.

The next tribute was Dav Anders. Again, he was one of those kids that didn't made an impression on me. And I was right, when I told him to begin, all I saw him do was stab some dummies with a knife. It wasn't skilled or clean or anything, it was just stabbing. But it was expected for a non-career tribute.

"You may go." I told him before he left.

After the avoxs cleaned up his mess I called in the next tribute, Arrowe Winter. The boy with one black eye and one bright green eye looked up at us and had a look on his face that looked like he wanted to impress us.

"You may begin." I told him. And immediately, he ran towards the rope ladder and began climbing it. He climbed it to the top and jumped on the overhead chandler above. Wow, this kid was crazy. Arrowe then climbed the lighting chain and climbed up to the steel beam, stood up on it, and balanced on it. He then started to run to the other side of the room while balancing on the steel beam. When he reached the end, he grabbed the top of a thick, tall plant and jumped off the steel beam that was over fifty feet up in the air. If it weren't for the plant, he'd be dead, but the plant slowed him down. But I thought that the plant was going to snap in half. When he was about ten feet off the ground, he let go of the plant and landed on the ground hard. While the plant snapped back, Arrowe shoulder rolled forwards before running to a group of training dummies and showed a bunch of ways to dodge attacks. If he wasn't dodging, then he was just running around doing a much of random moves on his feet. I was impressed with his abilities. I looked over to the others, they were still recovering from him falling from the ceiling. They faces were full of disbelief and fear. I laughed happily and said that he may leave now. He looked up, smiled, and left. And for once today, the avoxs didn't need to clean up anything.

I then called in the next tribute, Talliana Messine. I had seen her all around the training stations, what was she going to show us? She stood in the middle of the room before I told her

"You may begin."

"Begin what?" I heard a voice behind me. I turned around quickly. There was nobody behind me. "What are you looking at?" A voice asked to my right. I quickly looked there and saw the other gamemakers looking there confused. "Over here!" A voice shouted at the far left side of the room. I looked over there, to see nobody over there. I looked at Talliana and saw that she hadn't moved from the center of the room. She was smiling as well, like she was about to laugh. "Is there something I'm missing there?" Her voice asked, like it was inches away from me. So that was what she was doing, she was throwing her voice. It was a good talent, and it could be useful in the arena. She could trick her opponents.

"Nothing." I told her impressed with her "you may go now."

"Thanks." She said with her voice inches away from me. She then left.

Up next was district ten's Life Lee. She walked in looking both determined and angry. I wondered why.

"You may begin." I told her. When I finished my sentence, I saw her go towards the axes. That seemed to be the weapon that she was best at, every other weapon she held fell short of the ax. I saw her pick up an ax before going over to a training dummy. When she was inches away from the dummy, I saw her look at the dummy, sigh, then she practically butchered the training dummy. She severed the arms, the head, the legs, she ripped apart the torso with the ax sending parts of it flying through the air. She was quick and effective with that weapon. She was like Alexander with that ax. But she only destroyed the dummy for a few seconds before stopping. I then saw her shake her head before turning towards us.

"I could do this all day to something like this!" She shouted to us "but to a tribute though, this is just too damn cruel! My mama taught me better then this." Strange I thought.

"Your dismissed." I told her, and she left. She was a kind of strange girl, wonder if she'd really not kill anyone? Probably not, she'd kill.

When the avoxs were done cleaning up, I asked for the next tribute, Max Starling. Other then Nessa and Helena, he was the youngest tribute in the games. Like Life, he seemed to be good with axes.

"Ok, you may begin." Max then walked over to the axes and picked up a good sized ax. He then, with some difficulty, went to some training dummies and started to attack the dummies. But from the way he swung it, the ax was too big and heavy for him. He didn't seem to be doing too much to the dummies. He did some heavy damage, but he was slow and clumsy. He should have used the hatchets instead. After a few minutes, I told him that he could go. He wasn't doing too much. He dropped the ax and left before the avoxs started to clean up. I noticed that the other gamemakers were starting to get drunk at long last.

The next tribute up here was Aerin Sevani. He was an interesting person, he was too nice to really be in the games, but I could be wrong, people hide emotions and true intentions.

"You may begin." I told him. He then went over to a scythe. A scythe, hadn't seen anyone use that in a while. I saw Aerin effortlessly pick up the huge weapon, walk over to a group of training dummies, and started hacking at them. He was severing heads and limbs with his slices and he also cut the torsos deeply. He was skilled with that scythe, and strong too, but not as strong as Zap or Griffin. I was taking an interest in his skill, but I could see about half the other gamemakers were kind of drunk and not paying as much attention as they should be. When he was done destroying the training dummies, he placed the scythe down looked up at us. I was impressed. "You can go now." I told him. He nodded before exited the room. The avoxs cleaned up before I called in the next district eleven tribute, Angel Hale.

Angel walked in looking ready to show off her skills, and I could tell that the longer the waiting went, the less likely the other gamemakers would pay attention to her, no matter how good she did.

"Begin." I simply told her. She then walked over to the throwing knives and began throwing the knives. She wasn't as good as Helena or Evaline, but she still managed to hit the targets. She then walked over to the bows and arrows and started to shoot them at the targets. She still wasn't as good as Lynsa or Helena, but she, again, could still hit the targets. When she was done, I told her that she could leave. The avoxs then cleaned up the knives and arrows before I asked the next tribute to come in.

Now in walked in the second last tribute, Evanlyn Scott. She had mostly worked on the survival stations and not much with the weapons, but fighting didn't always lead to victory. And she seemed to be a fast learner at that.

"Let's see what you got." I told her. And unlike most of the other tributes before her, she ran towards the rope ladder. I wondered if she was doing another Arrowe stunt. I looked at the other gamemakers to see what they were thinking, but I might of well not have bothered, most of them were now too drunk to notice anything. I looked back to Evanlyn and saw that she was already half way up the rope ladder. And now she was turning her body until she was upside down on the ladder. She then began climbing down on it upside down. That was some skill. And when she got to the bottom of the ladder, she did a half backflip and landed on her feet before running over to the table holding all the spears and agilely jumped over it before shoulder rolling and sliding underneath a training dummy close by. She was agile, and good on her feet. She then stood up on her feet and looked up to us, and she was done. I'm surprised that she didn't show off her camouflage skills, she was really good at it during training. "You may go." I told her before she headed off.

The last tribute was Colin Aldrin. And he, in no way, made any impressions on me while training. He wasn't strong, fast, or skilled at anything as far as I could see. When he walked in, I didn't see him as much of a threat to the other tributes.

"You may begin." I told him knowing that all the other gamemakers were most likely too wasted to even know what was going on, or else they weren't paying attention anymore. I then saw Colin walk towards the swords. Huh, this could be interesting. He grabbed a sword handle and pulled out a sword, only to send the rest of the swords to the ground. He had some how knocked over the barrel and spilt the swords to the ground. He then walked over to a group of training dummies, only to bump into almost every other object on the way. He had a bad sense of direction. When he finally got to the training dummies, all he did was swing around his sword randomly. Sometimes, he even missed his target. It pained me to see this.

"You may go." I told him. He dropped his sword, and clumsily made his way his way out.

Ok, time to score the tributes.

A/N: Man, I thought this would never get done. So, how'd I do with the private sessions?

Topic I'm about to talk about now is updates, I'm working, and I'm not allowed on the computer, so, yeah, expect the updates to be slower, a lot slower.

You know, the two that tried to answer the bear question, I never even thought of those, but they were good answers. Here's the answer I was thinking of though: Bears are typically a shy and easily frightened species, however, if a bear believes that its cub is threatened, they will violently and fiercely defend their young. I was thinking that for December's father.


	15. Scores

**District two's Helena "Howl" Draconix's POV**

"What kind of score do you think you got girl?" My district partner, Lucifer, asked me. I looked at him and gave him a smile that told him exactly what I thought

"Hopefully one that's better then yours, remember our bet?"

"Yeah," he replied calmly "but I still think I'll win." In your dreams. I poisoned the weapons and used them like a master, there was no way that he could beat the score I was going to get. You could match it maybe, but you couldn't beat it. My sister and mentor, Elektra, flicked on the T.V in front of us. They were getting ready to announce the tribute scores, so we had shown up just in time for us to see what we had gotten.

"What do you think you kids got?" Our male mentor, a guy named Perseus, asked us as he fell on the large bright blue sofa to our right. Unlike my sister who planned out her strategy in the games and used her smarts and looks to her advantage in the arena, this guy's only plan was stab a tribute, stab another tribute, and stab some more tributes. That was a simple, but almost non-existent plan. If you could even call it a plan. If he tires to tell me a strategy for the arena, I'll just ignore him. I had a feeling it was kill, kill, and kill some more.

"Something good." Lucifer answered confidently "one of the best maybe." Of course, we were careers, we'd get the best scores. After all, this is what we trained for.

"Something better then him." I said pointing to Lucifer.

"We'll see girl." He replied. He wasn't worried at all. We then turned to the screen and saw a picture of Griffin get shown before a number nine appeared below his picture. A nine, I expected as much. Next they showed Lynsa's picture before flashing her score of ten. A ten, that suited her, her archery was first rate. They then showed Lucifer's picture before showing his score, nine. "Nine." He said to me proudly. My picture then showed up before flashing a better score.

"Ten." I told him proudly. I had beaten him, just as I expected. "I win."

"Whatever," he said like it didn't bother him "I didn't even try that hard."

"Neither did I." I told him. But the truth was, I did try, very hard. I then saw our district three ally, the giant. His picture showed him wearing his face muzzle, and he looked pissed, very. And below his picture, it showed that he scored an eleven. An Eleven!? That guy got a score better then us!?

"How?" Lucifer asked looking at the screen. "How did he-" he said before he stopped mid sentence. How was that possible, this guy was big and strong sure, but he didn't have any skills like us, did he?

"Good thing he's an ally and not an enemy right?" Perseus asked. Yeah, guess it was good that he wasn't an enemy, for now. Next it showed that other twelve year old girl who people were feeling sorry for. I was twelve, and I volunteered, she shouldn't be crying, whining, or anything. And people shouldn't be giving her sympathy either. She scored a six, a little better then average. Then up next was Shoney who scored an eight.

"Think reaped career girl will do fine?" Lucifer asked still looking at the screen.

"Probably not." I told him. Evaline was reaped, that meant she probably didn't train as well as us. And I was right, she didn't score as well as the majority of us, but she still got an eight. Well, she can hide behind our safety, for now.

Next, they showed that dumb girl from five. She scored a two. Not surprising, she was probably too dumb to show them something worth while. Next came the red eyed freak. He scored a five, the average score for a tribute. There was nothing special about him, just his looks.

Then came the pale boy from six. I don't even remember much of him. He scored a three. After him came that bitch who put me in a choke hold. Her multi blond hair flashed on screen before her score appeared. A ten. What!? She had a score as good as mine!? How? That scrawny girl couldn't possible do anything like us careers. What had she done?

"You've got some competition this year." Perseus told us. Not if I kill her in the bloodbath.

Next came district seven. The boy that Lucifer pushed around got an eight, even though he was a wimp. And the orange haired girl scored a six.

District eight came next. That fat boy scored a three while that curly haired girl scored a seven.

Now for our district nine ally. His picture flashed before they showed a nine. He was useful, defiantly, useful. The girl did good, but not as well as him with a seven.

The little district ten boy didn't do as well as the other young girl with a five. The girl did slightly better with a seven. Both tributes from eleven scored good scores with the boy we wanted scoring an eight and the girl scoring a seven. Shame that he wasn't with us, but it was his loss. He wouldn't be safe from us once he got in the arena. He'll learn his mistake soon enough. The last district, twelve, was pitiful as usual. The boy scored a one, and Lucifer laughed out loud when he saw what the fat boy scored. He laughed like it was the funniest thing he ever saw. The girl did good for someone from twelve though, a five.

"What do you think sis?" Elektra asked me as she turned off the T.V. All and all, most of the tributes were better then what you'd normally get in the games. That multi blond bitch scored a ten while lots of other tributes got six or higher. But still

"Nothing we can't handle." I told her smiling confidently. Because even though they got good training scores, we'd still have the advantage in the arena.

A/N: Well, short chapter, sorry. But, it's there. Next up interviews. Oh god why? Anyways, I have a plan. Oh yes, and check out the new poll on my profile.

Scores:

**District 1**

Griffin: 9

Lynsa: 10

**District 2**

Lucifer: 9

Helena: 10

**District 3**

Zap: 11

Nessa: 6

**District 4**

Shoney: 8

Evaline: 8

**District 5**

Alexander: 5

Valerie: 2

**District 6**

Ricky: 3

Rayne: 10

**District 7**

Bo: 8

Sami: 6

**District 8**

Dav: 3

December: 7

**District 9**

Arrowe: 9

Talliana: 7

**District 10**

Max: 5

Life: 7

**District 11**

Aerin: 8

Angel: 7

**District 12**

Colin: 1

Evanlyn: 5


	16. Interviews

A/N: Sorry people, but, I tried to do the interviews, but it was too darn hard. I tried in first person, then third person. And really, it was just too hard for me, sorry for all who wanted it. It was harder then I thought, a lot harder. Sorry all.

How it went:

Introduction of interview: Perfect

Lynsa: Me saying "introduction, perfect...now how to start?"

Griffin: Perfect

Lucifer: Me: "I can't think of anything funny."

Helena: Me: "Hmmmmm... This doesn't seem right."

Nessa: *see Helena*

Zap: Me: "easy."

Shoney: "Hmmmmm..."

Eva: "how to start?"

Valerie: "can't...do...it."

Alexander: "did it."

Anyway, the only people I could really do were Griffin, Zap, Alexander, Bo, and Aerin. Sorry all.

Samples:

Lynsa: she acted sweet, kind, and seductive. There was a funny part that I wanted to do when she started to flirt with the interviewer (don't worry, he was sixteen.)

Griffin: He told The Capital that he volunteered for his mother, to fulfil her final wish (she'd dead). He also talked a bit about his family and his brother Dragon, a former Hunger Games tribute who didn't win.

Lucifer: Comedian (I just couldn't do it)

Helena: a vicious and cunning girl with sharp remakes such as "Just because I'm a little girl doesn't mean I can't kill someone."

Nessa: shy girl

Zap: He was talking to himself, muttering things such as "I'll kill her first. No, her first" And "I'll do that first, then I'll cut that off." The interviewer ate a taco and offered the escorting peacekeepers food while waiting. All declined expect the youngest peacekeeper.

Shoney: Acted nice and careless

Eva: She talked about her family and how she learned her skills by fishing. She also got asked how she got her scar and said that it was from a training accident.

Valerie: dumb without meaning too.

Alexander: spilled wine all over his suit and said that that's what he'd look like in the arena. Tried to act nice but occasionally slipped violent statements. "I like you suit and hair combo Hershey, blood and guts combo."

Ricky: Nod head, shake head, smile.

Rayne: She acted like a badass tough girl

Sami: Shy but likable and someone to not be taken seriously in the arena in terms of a threat.

Bo: didn't say a word but tried to act lethal

Dav: I had no idea what to do with him

December: shy and sweet

Talliana: confident

Arrowe: confident

Max: outgoing and cute (little kids seem to have that effect on some people.)

Life: Shyish but was in good nature. She talked about her friend Laurel a lot.

Angel: Sexy and sweet (but not seductive like Lynsa). She had a dress that reveled some of her huge cleavage and I wanted to have commentary that said "The Capital men must be drooling over seeing her large, reveling bust."

Aerin: Friendly and likable (himself). Talked about his family and how much then mean to him and that their the reason he wants to return home.

Colin: Dumb without meaning too

Evanlyn: Sly

A/N 2: so, I'm just wondering, do any of you want me to stop replying to your reviews? Anyway, The games are near. Don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile.


	17. Getting ready for the games

**District seven's Bo Heatherfield's POV**

Today's the day of the games. Today is when this murder fest will begin. Hopefully I made enough of an impression for the tributes to stay away. I don't know if I scared the careers enough, but not counting them, there are fifteen other tributes that I hopefully gave a message to. Not that I could kill any of them. I just hoped that the arena this year had someplace to hide, last year's arena was a desert filled with only rocks, cactuses, and mountains upon mountains of sand. And where there wasn't sand, there was rock covered ground. That was one of the reasons the monster from two was able to kill so many tributes, there was almost no where to hide. No trees, no high grass, no nothing to hide in, just plain, desert kind of features. I hoped that this year wasn't like that.

I felt something painful jab me in the right shoulder. I let out a little yelp in surprise and pain before looking over and saw a Capital attendant holding a shiny, long needle. What was that for?

"It's a tracking device." She told me before placing the syringe into a clear plastic bag. "Lets us know where you are." Great, that's just what I needed, people knowing where I was. I looked out the window of the hovercraft that carried me, but the windows were tainted so black that I couldn't even see my reflection, let alone what was outside. Were they filming me now? Could The Capital citizens see me? Who knows.

After what seemed like hours of sitting, waiting quietly for something to happen, the hovercraft attendant instructed me to get up. I stood up, thankful that I could, just as the hovercraft side door was opening. The Capital attendant guided me to the door before telling me to go down the ladder and meet my stylist for the final preparations.

I climbed out the door and grabbed onto the ladder before climbing down to another room. I then came to a place The Capital called the Launch Room. The final place to be before they send me up to slaughter or be slaughtered. But before that, they introduce me to a final meal. I look at the meal and saw pancakes and orange juice. I ate the pancakes as fast as I could and downed the juice in two large gulps. I did that because I knew if I hesitated too long, I won't be able to eat anything. I'm almost too nervous, too scared, to eat anything. I wondered if the other tributes were feeling as nervous as I was? Probably not the careers, but everyone else maybe.

The last thing to do is get my arena clothes. When I was ready, my stylist silently helped me get changed. What I'm presented with is a white undershirt, dark green t-shirt, simple black pants that really don't seem any different then the pants I normally wear at home, a black belt with black buckle, perfect for camouflage, and a pair of heavy, sturdy, light brown, lace up hiking boots. The last thing I received was a thin black jacket that reached my thighs. Looking at all this, I guessed that we might be going someplace cold and rocky, a mountain or something. I might be able to hide in a cave or something.

When my stylist was done putting on my arena clothes, I got lead to a tube shaped thing at the end of the room and was instructed to go inside of it. I hesitated to go in. After all, this was the Hunger Games I was going into, one of the things I feared the most. If I had a choice, I would have stayed here, in this one stop, forever. I could run and hope that I somehow managed to get away from these games, The Capital, and by some miracle, get back home to district seven. But I felt hands shove me into the tube before I heard a hissing sound before the doors sealed shut with another hiss. Now I was going into the games. Shit. I was so scared, that I didn't even turn around to see the last, I wouldn't say friendly, but the last face of a person that for sure wasn't going to try and kill me.

**District three's young peacekeeper's POV**

"Get on your goddamn knees!" I heard Lawrence Varen's voice shout before hearing the creak of his baton hit Zap behind the knees. I watched as Zap's knees buckled a bit before me and three of my peacekeeper companions jumped on Zap's body and forced him to his knees. I looked over to see cruelly stab a syringe needle in the back of Zap's neck. But it didn't matter if he pricked it in gently or if he shoved it in, it felt the same to Zap, he didn't feel pain, he just knew it was coming. then pressed on the syringe before ejecting it with just as much cruelty as he did shoving it in. "We will now know where you are in the arena." told him, not that it mattered, it was just so that The Capital knew where he was in the arena so that they could show the audience watching something if it was happening. The three peacekeepers and I jumped off of Zap's back before walking back to 's side. was scary, even though he was the oldest one of us at forty nine. Right now he was full of anger. Anger that was directly focused on Zap right now. He was still mad at him and that red eyed kid for threatening his daughter, which I don't blame him for.

"There's the entrance to the arena." I told Zap nudging my head towards the tube that would lift him up into the arena. Now get in so we can stop guarding a dead man.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Zap asked us.

"You forgot to give him his arena clothes." The district three stylist told us. No, his straightjacket and pants were good enough for him. If that guy couldn't fight back so much the better.

"He's fine the way he is." I told her. But she didn't listen to me. She walked towards Zap and laid the clothes in front of him. She then walked to his back. I ran up and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"What the hell are you doing!? Your going to realize him from his straightjacket!?" The Capital stylist then gave me a nasty look before throwing my arm away from her and saying

"Yeah. What about it?" What was she-

"Don't do that!" I shouted to her along with every peacekeeper in this room

"Listen to me peacekeepers!" She shouted to us in her so called superior tone "don't think you can tell me what to do. Want me to report you?" Getting us reported for not letting someone from The Capital was either death or some other punishment. None of us wanted that. When we said nothing for several seconds, she got up, brushed herself off, and unclipped Zap's straightjacket. Fuck, not that bastard wouldn't be an easy target in the arena. Not only that, he had heavy hiking boots and a jacket to help him along. When the stylist was done, she walked away from Zap looking at us like it wasn't a big deal. Thing was, what if he became the winner because of you bitch?

"Get out of here." I snarled at the stylist before she even told us she was leaving. After hearing 's comment, she left faster. I watched as she opened the door, left, and closed the door behind her. I looked back to see Zap unclip, untie, and remove the face muzzle that was covering his mouth. He removed his muzzle before letting out a satisfying sigh pleasure. Seeing him like that, it made me think of what he was probably thinking. I'm free, that's probably what he was thinking. His open mouth made us see all of his teeth. Sharp, pointed teeth that had been manually sharpened to a lethal point. Teeth that was like an animal's. I saw every one of my comrades reach for a weapon wither it was baton or a tazzer. I reached for my tazzer. This guy was too dangerous to be let loose, and yet, here he was unrestrained. I felt sorry for the tributes that had to face him in the arena.

"We're leaving now." I said to everyone. Everyone seemed to agree before turning around and started to swiftly walk away. When we reached the door, I counted only three peacekeepers. I looked back to see that was still there with Zap. What was he doing?

**District three/eight's Lawrence Varen's POV**

He was free. He...was...free. Those tributes up there, my daughter. They stood no chance against him like this. I had to even the odds somehow. Good thing there was no Capital witnesses to see this.

"Philistone!" I shouted before drawing my baton. Zap turned back towards me as he was heading to the arena tube. When he turned around to face me, I waked him over the lower jaw with my baton causing his jaw to be dislocated with a crunch. Zap was a lot taller then me, he towered over me at six foot six, I could only manage to hit him in the lower jaw. I was going to hit him again, but as I swung a second time, I felt his powerful hand grab my arm and lift me into the air. I was now suspended helplessly in the air. As I kicked and punched him with all my might I heard him say

"I was going to spare you this." His jaw clicked loudly with every word he said. "But you've made me mad." He could barley talk, that was a good thing, my attack had done some damage to him.

"It will stop you from using your jaw to rip people's necks open at least!" I shouted angrily at him "I won't see my daughter fall victim to you!" I then saw him smile a shark's smile. Too many teeth showing, not enough humor.

"That's where your wrong." He told me. I then saw his free hand reach up to his jaw, twist his lower jab, and it snapped back into place. No. It was like I had done nothing to him. I reached for my tazzer but I felt something rip across my face, and pain took over all my senses.

**District three's young peacekeeper's POV**

It was like watching it in slow motion. First, was shouting at Zap, then he hit him across the jaw, then he got grabbed, then Zap sank some of his sharp pointed teeth into 's eyes and cut across them. I watched Zap drop to the ground as fresh crimson blood ran down Zap's sharp teeth and down his chin as well as blood running down 's face. shouted in extreme pain as he held where his eyes used to be with his hands. The other peacekeepers and I ran to 's aid. When the three of us arrived we kneeled down beside him and looked at his wound. It looked like someone had sawed into his eyes, the cut flesh was cut roughly with multiple slash marks across the flesh. Blood was running out of his exposed flesh, it had been opened like a badly gutted fish. I could see the red-pink flesh and white bone that was inside his face. I placed my hands on his wound to try and help stop the bleeding. While warm blood began to run though my hands, I heard Zap's voice behind me say

"Now you won't see me take your little girl's virginity and life...life...life...life." I felt my anger grow from within. This bastard had no limits. With my bloody hands, I reached for my tazzer just as the tube doors leading to the arena closed shut with Zap inside them. Fuck! Now he was out of our reach! I continued to look after now. Zap was out of our reach now. The Capital wanted a good show, Zap would give it to them, they wouldn't kill him, his was the main course. He was going to be the one to entertain the whole country.

"Get him to the ER!" I shouted thinking about and his draining life force. Fuck you Zap! Like everyone back home, I hope that you die in the arena.

A/N: So, what'd you think of this? Next chapter, the games! Yeah!

The reason is both district three and eight is because he was originally from eight, but he now lives in district three if you all don't remember.


	18. Bloodbath

**District Eleven's Aerin Sevani's POV**

What kind of arena were they going to send us into this year? That was the main question on my mind as I rode up this tube that was taking to the unknown. Would the arena be an ice cold mountain? Would it be an island with an active volcano? Or would it be a wild forest? I just hoped that it wouldn't be kind of like last year's arena, an open desertish thing where you could spot your enemies from great distances. But there was a bad side to seeing your enemies from a far distance, if I could see them, they could see me as well. But on the good side, if they could see me from a far distance, I could see them as well. It would be hard for anyone to sneak up on me in that kind of arena, plus, I have two allies, we'd be able to watch each others backs.

The arena could hold any kind of arena though, who says that it'll be an open environment, what if it's somewhere where you can't see anyone until it's too late to form a plan or run away? What if the arena was so thick that you couldn't see the other tributes until they were within arms reach? I hoped that it wasn't one of the two extremes, each one sounded worse the more I thought of it. But the arena couldn't be that bad. Could it? No, it couldn't, what were the odds that kind of arena being chosen now. Out of all the choices they could make, what were the odds of choosing one of types of arenas this year?

After about thirty seconds of intense thinking, I saw a thin ray of sunshine. Then the thin ray of brightness doubled, then doubled again, then it rapidly became brighter as the platform I was standing on slowly made it's way up to the arena. Then before I knew it, the sun's ray shone powerfully in my eyes, burning my eyes and blinding me. I shielded my eyes with my right arm to block out the sunlight that was too powerful to look at. I was finally in the arena.

Man it was bright, where were we? Was this part of the arena? Were they trying to blind us with an overly bright sun? I didn't like this, what were we going to do in an arena that left us blind?

Even though I didn't know where I was, even though I couldn't see anything around me, it felt nice out here, the heat was warm and conformable, there was a nice breeze that contained some heat in it, but nothing too major, in fact, I was used to this kind of heat. This was the heat that I lived in. And there was the sound of birds in the air, mocking jays most likely. They were few in numbers and they sounded far away from where I was, but they were there neither the less. I slowly removed my arm from my eyes and let them adjust steadily to the sunlight.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" I heard this year's Hunger Games announcer boom excitedly through the sky "Let the one-hundred and thirty-ninth Hunger Games begin!" Ever so slowly, I saw what the arena around me was. At first it was a blur, I couldn't see anything clearly, my eyes still hadn't fully adjusted. But it quickly readjusted back to normal. Then my vision cleared. At first glance, I thought that I was still in the Capital, but only for a fraction of a second. Upon closer inspection, the buildings in front of me looked like the ones in the Capital, but most of the buildings, big and small, were heavily ruined. They were creaked in places, rusted, and heavily encrusted with tangled green vines that reached the tops of some buildings. If they weren't encrusted, they were only tangled in vines, just like how me and Angel were in the chariot tour. Or just covered in some places such as doors and windows. That's what the majority of the buildings looked like, old, vine covered, and abandoned. Around the buildings were trees, not forest trees, jungle trees. Not many, but a few made their presents in the city. These trees were as tall, thick, some were covered in vines, and all had huge leaves on top of them. I looked down to see that the ground still had signs of what was left below, but there were tall weeds poking out of the ground and thick green moss covering the concrete, or what little there was left of it. I looked up to see the tropical abandoned city that we were now trapped in, and it looked wonderful. It was just right to me, the vine covered buildings reminded me of some of the old houses that some of the people in my district live in as well as the justice building. Even though most of our homes weren't as Capital like as the buildings in front of me. The heat around me reminded me of the harvests we have each year. And the mocking jays that were in the distance reminded me of the fields that I worked in, when the mocking jays would fly over us and occasionally, someone would sing a little tune and the jays would sing it back.

I felt a smile come onto my face, this, this reminded me of home. Most of the things here reminded me of home, but when I saw the golden cornucopia and the various items surrounding it as well as my fellow tributes, the vision of home faded. I turned to look behind me to see that there was also another part of the arena, a full jungle part. That part was surrounded by trees and only trees. I thought of the arena, an abandoned city part, and a jungle part. What were we going to go towards? I wondered that. Then I heard the explosion to my left.

**District Eight's December Juliet "Ember" Varen's POV**

When I heard and felt the big bang earthquake of the explosion that shook the earth below me. The explosion scared me, it caused me to lose my balance from both the rumbling earth and shock. I'm glad that I didn't fall off the platform. I instantly looked to my right to see the District Twelve boy's body fly through the air in many different pieces. His whole body flew up and forwards, but it didn't mean that all his parts were going towards the same place. One of his arms went one way while shattered parts of his torso scattered in various other directions in various ranges. The land mines below him had vaporized his feet and the flesh from his what was left of his legs were flying through the air in a bloody mess. His wet, bloody flesh fell to the ground as well as his disgusting organs and bones while his blood rained down onto the moss covered ground making it turn from light green, to light green mixed with red.

The shock of his body being blown to bits, his flesh and guts and bones and blood flying though the air, before hitting the ground with sicking, wet thunks made me feel sick inside. All of a sudden, I felt myself wanting to throw up. No, why did it have to happen now? The gong still hadn't gone, why couldn't I puke then? Why couldn't I puke after the gong sounded? If I puked now I'd be the same as the boy beside me. Blown apart into a hundred pieces of different sized flesh. I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and lifted it up to my chest and puked into it. That image of the fat boy from twelve having his body blown up will never escape my mind.

Why did he have to set off the land mine? Why did he do that? He wasn't the smartest tribute here, but did he do that on purpose? Did he commit suicide? Or was it something else?

**District Five's Alexander Natas's POV**

Hahahahahahahahahaha! That stupid fat ass ran off the platform before the gong had sounded! And now his body parts and organs were spread out on the ground mixing the two colours of green and red together. Just like my token, my white hair was mixed with my blood, my albino colours, red and white.

The flashback of my stylist asking me if I had a token came back to me.

"Do you have a token?" She asked me when I was done dressing myself for the arena.

"Do I need one?" I asked her uncaring about a token.

"Everyone has one but you." I then looked at her.

"I didn't know I needed one." I told her before grabbing a knife. My stylist looked scared, like I was going to kill her, but she calmed down a little after I only cut off a chunk of my hair. I held my white hair into my left palm and slashed it with the knife causing my white hair and red blood to mix together. "That's my token," I told her holding out my blood stained hair for her to look at. "Red and white, the two things that make me what I am."

I squeezed my left hand and let the blood flow from my wound thinking about my token of choice. I looked over to my left see Tharizdun about four platforms across from me. The games had barley started, and this guy already had blood on him. Dark, red, crimson liquid that ran from his lower jaw down to his chin that dripped slowly down onto the platform where he stood. The little drops of blood splashing on the ground causing them to expand, and it didn't look like it was his blood, he looked unharmed. It was a good sight for me, seeing that someone's blood had been spilt. I wished I knew where he went so I could have got a little pre-game action myself. But there would be enough fighting to come, hopefully. I just needed to wait for another forty seconds before the bloodbath would begin. I had to wait for less then a minute before these games could begin.

Thirty seconds. I looked over to my first target. There she was, standing there oh so scared with that worried expression on her face.

Twenty seconds. I knew what I was going to do with her when I caught her. It was so clear in my mind that I could almost see and feel it right now. It gave me the shivers of delight.  
Ten seconds. After all, she deserved every second of it.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Then the gong sounded, and as soon as I heard it, I sprinted towards the closest backpack I could find along with the majority of other tributes. Around me, I saw tributes coming from all directions, but I ignored them as I continued to sprint towards the backpack in front of me. Within seconds I reached a small, dark blue backpack that could hold anything within its size limit, I just hoped that it had a knife, it'd be a mighty shame if it didn't. Without slowing down, I grabbed the left shoulder strap before lifting it up to arms height. I threw my right arm through one shoulder strap before throwing my other arm through the other strap securing its place on my back.

Now that I had a backpack, I could focus my attention on the one thing that I wanted right now. I quickly looked around and found that bitch Valerie in one second flat. There was no way that I could have missed her. That bitch helped make my life a living hell, her and her father, and she was going to pay deeply for that. She was going to pay the price for both herself and her father today. Right now, she was trying to run away from the chaos near the cornucopia, but little did she know, that wasn't going to help her. I sprinted towards her and was ready to get her.

She was slow, a lot slower then I was, with each step she took I gained five, she was easy to catch. I easily caught up to her. When I was within reach I reached out with my right hand and grabbed a handful of her brown hair and pulled her towards me as hard as I could causing her head to snap back and for her to let out a high pitched shriek. She fell to the ground hard before I pulled her hair up forcing her back up to her feet. "You're coming with me." I snarled at her. I was going to make her pay for all the pain she caused me, her and her father. I then started to drag her towards the a section that was outside of the city that looked like a thick, dense jungle of sorts where we'd begin our fun. I was going to kill her slowly and painfully in an isolated part of the jungle. She was screaming at me, begging me to let her go while making pitiful attacks towards me, it was so pitiful that it was pathetic. And she should have known better, I wasn't going to let her go. When we get into the jungle, she won't be able to fight me. I wanted this, I wanted this so bad.

All of a sudden, I heard her stop screaming. What happened!? One moment she was screaming and begging, then the next moment she was silent. I looked at her and saw that a knife was wedged into the center of her head. Blood had exploded from her forehead and was running down her face in vertical red lines. I looked in the direction the knife had came from to see the twelve year old girl from District Two looking in my direction holding a couple of throwing knives in her left hand. Was she the one that took my prey? I then saw her switch a throwing knife from her left hand to her right hand. Was she going to throw it at me? It sure looked like it. I lifted Valerie's body up and used her body as a shield and I began to run towards the jungle while holding Valerie's body in a defensive position.

While running, I heard a knife hit Valerie's body as I got away from the cornucopia and retreated into the jungle. Damn you little girl, damn you, you just had to take away my fun didn't you?

**District Nine's Talliana Messine's POV**

I ran towards the cornucopia as soon as the gong sounded, I didn't waste anytime thinking of what I could, should, or try doing, I already knew what I needed. I needed something, a weapon at least, if I could get my hands on a weapon that suited me I would have a better chance of surviving in this arena. But I didn't see anything near me, but I was fast, if I could quickly run to the cornucopia and grab something before running away again.

I continued to run towards the closest item that I could see as I watched the other tributes run franticly around me. Damn, the bloodbath was more chaotic that I thought it would be, I shouldn't have came here, with twenty two other tributes all in one place, there was a good chance that I was going to get killed by one of them, especially if that got their hands on a weapon. That scared me, twenty two tributes running all around me, possibly with weapons, possibly out to kill me.

I started to think of abandoning the cornucopia and just take my chances without any items when I saw something not seven feet away from me, a large grey backpack that could be loaded with anything. I hoped that it contained food, liquid, and a small, one handed weapon, like a dagger or something of that sort.

I raced towards the backpack, disparate to get out of the bloodbath before it was too late. I needed to get away, quickly, the longer I was here the higher the risk of being killed was.  
I quickly got to the backpack and grabbed it by one of it's shoulder straps before turning around and started running away from the cornucopia. I raced towards the city part of the arena when I felt something jerk me backwards. The jerk was powerful enough for me to lose my balance and cause me to crash to the ground. Oh no! Someone was here to fight me! And I was weaponless!

I quickly turned around to see the giant District One male career. In his left hand he held my backpack with an iron grip preventing me from running away with it, in the other hand he held a large sword that caught the sun's rays and reflected it in my face. I was temporarily blinded, but a little blindness wouldn't stop me, I was going to get out of here before he killed me, the backpack wasn't worth my life. I knew I couldn't defeat him, so why try?

I wasn't going to fight him, but I needed to get away, and I needed to do it quickly. I opened my mouth and shouted out a war cry, only the sound didn't come from where I was, I threw my voice so that it sounded like someone was behind the District One boy known as Griffin. I made it sound like someone was coming towards him. I hoped that it would distract him, I only needed to distract him for two, three seconds tops to make my escape.

It worked. I felt a little easier as I saw, through my semi-blind eyes, Griffin turn his head away from me to see who was coming after him. I scrambled to my feet and started to run away when I felt something grab the back of my shirt. I screamed out in fright as my feet were lifted several inches off the ground before I got turned around came face to face with Griffin again.  
Looking into his eyes and seeing that smile of his, it seemed to say, you think you could fool me? I kicked and screamed and started to tremble with fear as I knew what he was going to do to me next.

**District Six's Rayne Page's POV**

Most tributes probably wouldn't have done what I had done. I ran towards the center of chaos and grabbed the biggest backpack that I could see. Others might have called it suicide, it was close to where the careers and their allies were, but they were distracted by the other tributes and I managed to snag this large black backpack with little problem. I snagged the backpack and quickly zipped it open and reached my hand into it to see if there was a weapon inside of it. With a backpack this size, there had to be a weapon inside of it, and I was right. I felt a weapon handle and excitedly pulled it out. Out of the backpack came a medium length bladed weapon, a machete. It wasn't exactly the Kukri I was hoping for, but it was close enough. Still holding my machete I closed my backpack and started to run towards my ally Life Lee who was already waiting for me at the entrance of a vine encrusted building. There were no other tributes over there and it looked like a safe escape route from the cornucopia. The problem was, she was on the other side of the bloodbath field, and with that, I had to get past the careers. But the good thing was, they were being distracted by twenty two other tributes, they hopefully wouldn't notice me until I was too far away from them.

I then put my speed to use and sprinted across the bloodbath field where I saw the District One boy cut off the District Nine girl's head with a sword. I instantly saw blood fly from her neck as the sword sliced through her neck before her head fell to the ground. I only looked for a second before I refocused on where I was running, there were still other tributes around and I didn't want to run into any of them.

I almost made it to the building where Life was when I felt a brick wall hit me on my left side. I got knocked onto my back and endured some rough pain before I looked up to see my district partner, Ricky Coler. Fuck, he just had to get in my way at this moment. I quickly got to my feet and let the machete I was still holding get ready to stab him. My machete was pointed at him just as he got to his feet. He wasn't facing me as I stabbed him in the back sending nearly two feet of steel through his ribs.

"Told you I was going to kill you." I said to him before I twisted the machete that had punctured through his right lung and pulled out the now blood covered machete. Blood raced out of his wounds before his body went limp and he fell to the ground face first.

As he died, I jumped over his body and ran to the vine encrusted building where my ally was waiting for me.

"You got anything?" I asked when I got near her. I didn't want to be the only one with supplies.  
"I got this." She answered before holding up a medium sized black backpack.

"Great," I told her, she had left the bloodbath something "lets get out of here."

**District Two's Lucifer Despar's POV**

Damn, those little bastard tributes were either fast or cowardly this year. So far, we only killed two tributes between the eight of us. Howl killed the District Five girl and Griffin had just killed the District Nine girl not moments ago, we were doing bad this year. Damn it. There were going to be so many tributes that we'd have to look for later if we kept up this disapointing preformance. I looked at the survival knife that I had picked up from a weapons crate at the cornucopia. Seven inches of steel and perfectly crafted, a shame that I didn't get to use it yet. I looked at the knife and felt frustrated, I wasn't going to catch a tribute like this, not when they were all running all over the place picking up supplies and running away like no tomorrow. I didn't want to head too far away from my allies in case of an ambush, or get stabbed in the back by a surprise attack.

I sheathed my knife into it's sheath and picked up a bow that was within my reach and loaded an arrow into it. Long range wasn't my strong point, but this was probably the only way that I could kill a tribute at the moment. I pulled the string back and tried to aim at the orange haired girl, Sami I think her name was, from District Seven. When I thought I had a good shot, I released the arrow and let it fly towards her, only for it to hit the ground about three feet away from her. God, I couldn't hit them from afar either. I threw down the bow and walked towards the golden horn to see if there was anything useful that I might have missed. We'd search it later, but I might find a weapon that might make my life easier right now. I walked towards some of the crates only to see that some of the food crates had already been opened. Damn, someone got all the way here!? How did they do that? What the hell were we doing to let someone get this far into our territory?

Hmm, something though seems off about this. I looked at the thing that looked out of place in these piles of crates, it looked like a shoulder. I pulled my knife out and jabbed the thing with the sharp point of my knife. My suspicions were confirmed when I heard a yelp of pain, someone was hiding behind these crates of food. I felt myself smile as pulled a crate of food off another crate of food and saw a tribute hiding behind it. The District Eight boy Dav was crouching down, hiding from the bloodbath in fear while eating some dried beef strips that he had stolen from us.

"Enjoying that?" I asked before I slashed his neck open with my knife sending blood splashing onto some near by crates. I then took the bag of dried beef strips from his dying hands before the blood that was bubbling and flying out of his neck could ruin them. I then re-sheathed my knife before taking out a piece of dried beef string and taking a bite out of it. "Good enough last meal." I told him as the District Eight boy drowned in his own blood before fading away from this world.

A/N: Well, after 17 chapters, the games have started. What do you guys think of the bloodbath? Sorry Talliana, but I needed more bloodbath victims.

All of you remember this, plot armor, some of those who survived got major plot armor, if it were up to me, I would have killed five more tributes maybe, but I like them all too much to do that, it was hard enough to kill Talliana.

Votes on most dangerous tributes, first place goes to Zap/Tharizdun. Second places goes to Griffin and Helena/Howl. Third place goes to Lucifer, Rayne, and Alexander.

**Death list:**  
**24th place: Colin Aldrin. Blown up by land mines**  
**23rd place: Valerie Snake. Death delivered by Helena/Howl**  
**22nd place: Talliana Messine. Beheaded by Griffin**  
**21st place: Ricky Coler. Killed by Rayne**  
**20th place: Dav Anders. Slashed by Lucifer**


	19. What items do we have?

**The games: Day 1. Mid-afternoon.**

**District one's Lynsa Fylar's POV**

The Bloodbath was over when the last non-career tribute left the cornucopia. All that remained here now was us careers, our allies, and the dead bodies that littered the area. I looked around the bloodbath area and looked at the bodies of the dead tributes that were killed. My district partner Griffin kicked the head of the district nine girl that he had beheaded before starting to look through one of the many crates near the cornucopia. I then looked to district eight boy that Lucifer had slashed in the neck. Both so lifeless now. Their facial features in permanent fear as they saw death heading towards them. I looked farther into the field and saw the bloody, scattered pieces of the fat district twelve boy laying on the blood covered ground around the starting platforms. I then looked in the direction of the next victim of the bloodbath, the blond, pale boy from six who laid face down on the ground in a pool of blood, dead.

"Two." I said slinging my new bow over my right shoulder.

"Two what?" Asked Evaline who was standing beside me while Griffin, Lucifer, Howl, Shoney, and Arrowe all looked though the crates and looted the remaining backpacks and individual items scattered though out the bloodbath area. Whatever the other tributes didn't get, we got, not that we really needed them, we had everything we needed in those crates and maybe more.

"We only got two people." I told her thinking of the girl Griffin killed and the boy Lucifer had killed.

"Three actually." I heard Howl announce "I killed that district five girl before she was dragged off into the jungle." Ok then, three victims that were killed by us, two dead by other means making a total of five dead tributes.

"That's right," I heard Lucifer say angrily as soon as Howl was finished "three, we only killed three tributes in this bloodbath and two other tributes died of other causes! That was fucking pathetic!" I looked to him to see him pull out a black and red coloured two litter thermos full of water from one of the many crates near the cornucopia before tuning towards us. "I mean! Come on! What the hell were you all doing!?" He then looked at Griffin and Howl "besides me! These two were the only ones that killed someone!" He then turned to me before shouting and pointing to me while holding up the thermos "what were you doing Lynsa!? I thought you were an ace with those arrows!"

"I-" I stuttered before telling him about the situation that happened to me earlier "I couldn't find a bow and some arrows until the bloodbath was over." It was true, I looked and looked for a bow and some arrows but couldn't find any. It was only till all this ended did I find what I needed. Lucifer looked displeased when I told him my answer.

"Oh really? Cause if I remember correctly, I found a bunch of bows, and lots of arrows near me easily! I even shot one!" He might have found them then, but I didn't. Before I could say anything to him, Lucifer turned towards Eva and directed his anger to her. "You! Reaped career girl! What about you? What's your excuse?" I turned to see Eva looking at him straight in the face, fearless, before saying to him

"None of them got close enough to me, they all ran in the opposite direction." She seemed unafraid of him. I saw Lucifer smile widely before saying

"Alright, fair enough, I was having that problem too." Lucifer then turned to Arrowe and Shoney who were raiding a weapons crate full of knives. "What about you two!?" He called to them.

"Got none." Arrowe called to him while Shoney remained silent and just shrugged his shoulders giving no excuse or anything. He didn't even turn towards Lucifer when he gave his shrug, all he did was keep on looking into the knife crate looking at it's contents. I then saw Lucifer turn away from those two before turning to the biggest person in our group.

"And you!" He shouted to Tharizdun who was staring into the jungle, back turned to us, just, staring creepily into the jungle like there was something in there that he wanted. "I thought you were supposed to be a feared killer! Why didn't you kill anyone!?" When Lucifer was done shouting, he turned towards us slowly, creepily, and smiling sadistically with his sharp pointed teeth before answering

"I let them go." He answered deeply.

"What!?" Lucifer shouted angrily "You let them go!? What for!?" Yeah. What for? I never imagined that this guy would just let tributes run free. Tharizdun still smiling and looking at us then answered

"We're going to have some fun looking for them. I mean, the fun would have been cut in half if I didn't hunt for them. Hunt for them...hunt for them...hunt for them." So that's what it was, he didn't kill them because he couldn't, he let them go for the sport of finding them. He was going to hunt them down and kill them like a kid looked for buried treasure. I looked back to Lucifer, and again, he didn't look pleased with the response he got, but he pressed his teeth together and let out a low growl before turning back to the crates that held the majority of our supplies.

"Whatever then! We'll hunt them down later!"

**District three's Nessa Christine Johnston's POV**

"Slow down!" I shouted to my ally, Max Starling, who was running way too fast for me to keep up, plus, I was getting tired from running from the bloodbath area to here. "I'm tired!"

"What!?" Max called out surprised as he slowed to what looked like a light jog to him "we haven't even ran that far. And I want to distance myself from the careers as much as possible before sunset so I can sleep soundly and not be worried that I'll get killed in my sleep. And I thought you had a bunch of energy inside of you, like you were hyperactive or something." He must have gotten that from the times he saw me not wanting to stand still and just had to keep on moving.

"I may have a lot of energy, but I have little stamina." I explained to him. I had a lot of energy inside of me, but that didn't mean that I could run a marathon. Right now, I was wheezing more then I was breathing, my lungs felt like they were going to explode, and I was sweating from exhaustion and the heat around us. But he was right, the further away from the careers we were the better. I didn't want one of them to attack us in our sleep. Or any other tribute to do that for that matter. "But your right, we have to distance ourselves from the cornucopia. Where should we head to?" It didn't seem like the best question now that I thought about it, because right now, we were in a city part of the arena. While others headed in the same direction as us and ran towards some part of the city, some of the others ran for the jungle, not that this was too different from the jungle, this city had all the features of the wild jungle except for the buildings, concrete, and other city objects that were covered in moss, vines and plants. Or a combination of them. You had the whole area to choose from.

Max had slowed down enough for me to catch up to him before he started to look around and examine the surrounding area. There were lots of places to choose from, a building here, a place of thick underbrush there, lots of places to camp and hide in.

"Let's head into that building up there," he said pointing to a tall building in front of us that was covered in green vines and yellow wild flowers growing in the moss"let's head there and check out what supplies we have and make a plan from there. Better to be in there then out in the open."

"Sounds good." I told him glad for the upcoming break and shade. He was too fast for me and it was way too hot out here, even with my jacket off, so I was glad to be getting a rest for my legs and getting out of the sun, even if just for a couple minutes. But I also dreaded on what he'd say when he found out that all I managed to get from the bloodbath area was an empty half liter plastic water bottle and a small bag of nuts. He'd freak out at me maybe, I know he's nice and all, but he ran closer to the cornucopia then I had and got a backpack full of unknown supplies. His backpack was small, but I guessed that it contained items that were of more use then my two items that were about five steps from my platform. If I told him that I was scared of going against the bigger, stronger tributes for better supplies, I hoped that he'd understand.

We walked to the outside of the building before opening one of the two doors that made a sound that reminded me of nails running on a chalk board. As soon as we were inside the temperature dropped, not to a nice cool temperature, but to something that was at least bearable. Max and I closed the door before walking across a floor that was seemed to be more suited for outside then it did inside a building. The floor we walked on inside of this building had grass that went up to my knees and it had some yellow wild flowers mixed into it. The walls weren't much different then they were outside either, they were covered in vines that ran to the ceiling. Max and I walked to the center of the entrance room before we sat down in the soft grass and rested.

"You know," Max said with a little laugh as he patted the ground "this could be a good spot for a picnic if my backpack would allow it." I then saw him sling his backpack off his shoulders. And while he was still smiling, he laughed a little, but like there was little to laugh at. "But this backpack is so light that I don't think I'll have anything in this thing, after all, this thing was close to my platform and everyone knows that all the good stuff is near the cornucopia. I just hope that it has water in it, I can go for a long time without food, but water, water is a different story." Suddenly, I didn't feel that worried anymore, he hadn't ran that far either, he had avoided the cornucopia, just like I had.

"I don't know if this is much help," I told him as I as I reached into my jacket that was tied at my waist and pulled out the small water bottle and a small bag of nuts and showed it to him. I was worried that he'd be disappointed in me for getting so little, but after what he said, I was only worried slightly. He smiled at me before saying

"At least you got something," he told me "something is better then nothing, we might need that bottle later, you know, to hold water and such." Relief flooded inside of me, he wasn't mad. I then felt my eyes look towards his backpack and wondered what kind of stuff he got. Did he get food? Water? Medicine? Weapons? We needed more then my empty bottle and a bag of nuts to survive this, what was in that backpack could either help us or not. What we really needed was either a bottle with water in it or at least some water purification things. "Ok," he said "now for my backpack." I then saw him excitedly zip open the backpack before his face instantly fell.

"What's wrong?" I asked him before looking inside the backpack myself. I then saw what had made him look sad, because I was now sad as well. Inside that backpack, the backpack that could have helped us in terms of items, was full of nothing but air. I sighed deeply before letting my disappointment take over. Nothing. A big, fat, nothing.

"Well," I heard Max say "look on the bright side, at least we have a backpack to carry things in." I then felt myself smile. He was right, at least we didn't have to carry everything in our hands and pockets now. And if we did find anything, we could use it to carry the heavier objects.

"Yeah." I told him taking my jacket off my waist and placing it into the backpack. "Yeah." I then heard the cannons fire to tell us how many tributes died in the bloodbath. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Five tributes died in the bloodbath. I'm sure glad that I wasn't one of them.

**Day 1: Early night**

**District twelve's Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

I managed to get away from the bloodbath area alive, but the real games had just started, now I just had to hope that nobody would find me till the final two, I didn't want to take any chances fighting anyone before that time. At the end of the games most tributes were injured in one way or another from fights with either other tributes or the mutts, or both. I was going to try and stay as uninjured as possible so that I'd have an advantage over my enemy.

But that was if I didn't freeze to death on the first night. I placed on the jacket that I had removed during the day and zipped it up all the way. The jacket only helped slightly, it was a thin, simple jacket, if I didn't get something to keep me warm for the night I might die of hyperthermia tonight. I couldn't let that happen, I had a family to take care of, I had done things that nobody in the district would even think of doing, I helped my family to just make ends meet, what would they do without me? I leaned against a tree before looking inside the bright yellow backpack that I managed to get from the bloodbath field and hoped that my some miracle I had something that could help me with the cold. Last time I looked in the backpack there was a seven inch survival knife inside a sheath which was now clipped to my belt, two packs of dried fruit which I hadn't eaten yet, and an extra pair of black socks. I didn't know what I'd need the socks for earlier, but now, I could use them to keep my hands warm at least. I grabbed the socks and placed them over my freezing hands and felt instant relief. But as good as the socks were, I needed more for the rest of my body. I continued my search inside the backpack and found nothing more. Damn.

I zipped up my backpack before looking around to see if there was anything that could be done here. There was a lot of underbrush and twigs around in this jungle, I could maybe try to make a fire and keep myself warm for the night, or at least most of it. But that could attract unwanted attention. And how could I start a fire in the first place? I wasn't good enough to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together last time I tried. Cut off the bark from the trees and cover myself with it? Maybe, but would it really be the best means of keeping myself warm? Maybe. But what about hiding? I looked at all the underbrush at my feet and decided that I should at least try the tree bark and use it as an improvised shelter.

I pulled out my knife and pressed the tip of the blade into a section of the tree beside me. I felt the knife sink into the tree and I started to separate the bark from the tree by shoving the blade in the opposite direction of bark. When I shoved the blade sideways, a loud snap sounded before a large piece of bark fell to the ground in front of my feet. It was big, a little taller then I was and wider then my body. Four more pieces like that and I should be good to go.

Four pieces later and I was set to make my shelter. I took the biggest piece and decided that it would be the roof of my makeshift shelter. I took my knife and carefully stabbed a few air holes into it before setting two other pieces in place to make a sort of tent like thing. I then placed the fourth piece on one side, sealing off one exit before I started to rip out some underbrush to cover my shelter. I didn't want the others to find it easily.

I ripped underbrush and moss from various places surrounding me and even added small sticks to make it look like this place had been undisturbed by humans. After tossing everything onto my shelter, I took a step back to admire my work. My four pieces of bark that looked almost like a coffin or cave, depending how you look at it, and it looked great. Honestly, I just needed to crawl into it, place the last remaining piece of bark on it, and it would camouflage me from the world. I saw a flash of light appear in the sky and I looked up curiously to see what was happening. Up in the sky above me was a Capital hovercraft, they were going to show the five victims that died today. Let's see who's cannons were fired earlier. The first one to appear was a picture of that district five girl, the second picture was that black eyed pale boy from six, third was that boy from eight, then the girl from nine, and finally, my district partner who got blown up by his own stupidity. The sky then went dark again before the hovercraft flew away. Nineteen more tributes I thought as I sheathed my knife before going down on my knees and crawled into my newly made shelter backwards. I continued to crawl until I reached the end and gently placed the last piece of bark up out front.

Inside the shelter that I made, the ground was hard, it was still cold, but not as much as it was before, and it was a tight fit so I couldn't move around that much. But it kept me hidden, and it will hopefully get warmer in time with my trapped body heat. But all and all, this was a lot better then sitting outside and hoping that the arena had mercy on you. I looked at the socks I was wearing in my hands and was glad that I wore them, not only for the heat, but the protection from the wood splinters. I smiled as I thought of my family, if they were watching me right now at home, they could see that they didn't have to worry about me, I could take care of myself in the arena. For tonight anyway, those dried fruits weren't going to last forever, but for now, I'll rest here and know that I could survive the elements of the games with my smarts.

A/N: Sorry about this, but all work and hardly any play is my excuse, so don't expect updates too fast. So, what do you guys think of my games so far? And yes, there are going to be slow paced moments and such, but don't worry, there will be plenty of death later.


	20. Career underdogs

**Day 1. Mid-night**

**District eleven's Angel Hale's POV**

Earlier today the weather was wonderful, perfect even if I say so myself. The heat felt like it was from home. But now, now it was freezing cold. It was so cold that it felt as if the very core of my body was threatening to be frozen if I didn't do something to warm it up. And fast. I looked over to Aerin to see that he was in the same state as I was. His coat was zipped up all the way and his arms were wrapped around his body in a feeble attempt to keep it warm, but his whole body was shivering violently like he was having a seizure, his teeth were chattering so fast it was loud, and to top it off, snot was running out of his nose like he had a cold. I wiped some of my own snot that was running out of my nose with my jacket sleeve while my teeth briefly, unwillingly, chattered on the jacket fabric making me taste whatever material it was made out of. The jackets were thin, it hardly helped us from the cold. Same with the pants. I then looked over to Sami to see how she was holding up. Sami had also zipped up her thin jacket and had her arms wrapped around her body, but she wasn't nearly as bad as Aerin and I were, she was only shivering a little. Guess district eleven had the advantage during the day and the disadvantage during the night since we came from the hottest district in Panem. But did the nights have to be so freaking cold? I mean, talk about extreme weather differences.

"I-I-I th-th-th-think w-w-we shou-oul-ould camp he-r-r-r-re." Aerin shivered as we approached a vine encrusted tree that looked thick enough for four large houses stacked up on top of one another and four houses in diameter to fit into.

"G-g-g-g-good." I said though my chattering teeth before falling to the cold, hard ground. I just wanted to curl up into something, anything, and get warm. I then saw Sami and Aerin unzip their backpacks before pulling out two medium sized dark green sleeping bags. I then remembered that the two of them managed to get a couple of sleeping bags from the cornucopia. Sami's sleeping bag was the only thing in her backpack, but I wasn't in the position to complain, that sleeping bag was one of our lifesavers. Aerin's backpack was bigger, it held a sleeping bag as well, but it also contained a flashlight, five bags of dried beef strips, a good size loaf of bread, a one liter sized plastic bottle filled with water, and a small jar of iodine. I then thought of my backpack and how it held a survival knife and five spearheads, their backpacks were infinity more useful then mine, because we couldn't use a knife if you're dead. Plus, Aerin had food and water, which you couldn't live without. I watched as Aerin and Sami unrolled their sleeping bags and placed underbrush on top of them to help it stay hidden from other tributes.

"There's only two bags and three of us." Sami told us shyly. Nice was to state the obvious Sami. Like I didn't know how to count.

"Nooooo sh-i-i-i-it," I told her through chattered sarcasm "I n-n-n-n-never n-n-n-n-noticed."

"O-o-o-one of u-u-us i-s-s-s-s-s gona-a-a-a- hav-v-v-ve to sh-sh-sh-share." Aerin shivered. Even though it didn't seem like a big deal to everyone else, I envied the idea of sharing a sleeping bag with Aerin, why not admit it, I kind of had feelings for him. And this was a perfect opportunity to not seem suspicious. I mean, this was a really good chance to get closer to him. I hadn't known him well back in the district, but we did have the same class in school. But enough with the past and focus on the present. Now is now, then was then.

"I'll sh-h-h-h-hare." I announced not wanting this opportunity to pass. I then saw Aerin put up an effort to smile even though his teeth were chattering like crazy.

"G-g-g-g-great." I then turned and watched Sami crawl into her sleeping bag and saw how much space someone like her took up in her sleeping bag. I then thought of how tight it would be inside our sleeping bag, Aerin was bigger then Sami and my breasts were huge, add Aerin and I together and we might be in for a tight squeeze tonight. But I'll worry about that later. "G-g-g-g-good ni-i-i-i-ight you t-t-t-two." Aerin announced from inside his sleeping bag. Wait what? I looked towards his sleeping bag. He's already in? Wasn't he going to wait for me?

"Coming in?" I heard Sami ask beside me. I looked over to see her holding her sleeping bag flap open looking like she was waiting for someone, someone being me. Ugh, I really wanted to be with Aerin, but I guess I'd have to share with Sami if I didn't want to freeze to death. I turned away from Aerin's sleeping bag and went over to Sami's sleeping bag and crawled into it. When my entire body was inside I felt the air feel a little warmer around me. I heard Sami zip up the sleeping bag before turning to me and saying "sleep tight." Yeah, whatever. "Don't let the bedbugs bite." Wait what!? Bedbugs!? Oh god get me out of here! Like the Hunger Games weren't bad enough already without bugs everywhere!

**District nine's Arrowe Winter's POV**

Man this sucked, here we were in the middle of the night searching for tributes in the middle of a dense jungle. This didn't suck because of the risk of running into tributes, or that this was a dense jungle where anything could pop out at us, or that darkness surrounded us and was only penetrated our flashlights, it sucked because I was tired. I wasn't sure if Shoney, Evaline, and Lynsa were tired, but I would have never went on this trip if Lucifer, Howl, and Griffin didn't threaten to break every bone in my body. I could abandon them now, but then I'd be taking my chances in the jungle or city, whichever one I chose, but then I'd have to fear the retribution of the careers. I didn't want that.

"You think we should head back now?" Lynsa asked in a kind of desperate voice as I slashed at another tangle of hanging vines in front of us with my new machete. If there was one thing that this place had, it was lots of obstacles that hindered out travels. Vines, logs, fallen trees, everything you could expect in a jungle.

"Sure," I gladly told her as I turned towards her "I'm getting way too tired for this shit right now." As Lynsa smiled, I looked at the thick coat she was wearing and thought about the freezing cold air around us. I had a thick coat on warm pants, and insulated gloves, just like the rest of the careers at the moment. I bet that the other tributes didn't get this kind gear at the cornucopia and were now struggling against the elements at this very moment. I mentally smiled to myself, good thing that I worked hard and got the careers attention, even though it wasn't part of my original plan, but I wasn't complaining, if anything, this was better then my original plan, I just needed some sponsors and I'd be set for the rest of the games. I suppressed a yawn before looking behind Lynsa, who was standing rather close to me for some reason, and saying "Ok you two, we're going back to camp." But there was something strange about this situation, mostly because there was nobody behind Lynsa, all there was was underbrush and trees as far as I could see. Did they somehow sneak away? I was usually very alert about my surroundings, I must be more tired then I first thought. Lynsa then turned around when she heard silence for several seconds. She then noticed that both of the district four tributes were missing.

"Shoney?" Lynsa called out "Eva?" Where had they gone? Had they betrayed us? Shoney did seem suspicious during training, talking to other tributes and claiming to be trying to find out their weaknesses. Then there was Evaline. Huh, should have expected this earlier. "Where do you think they went?" Lynsa asked looking around for the two district four tributes.

"I don't know." I told her before grabbing her arm gently before leading her back to camp "maybe they wanted to have some alone time with each other."

"You think so?" Lynsa asked like I wasn't kidding around "I didn't think that they liked each other, much less like that." I let out a little laugh before telling her

"I don't think they do, I was just kidding." Hopefully they just got lost or something and were heading back to the camp. "Their probably back at camp." I told Lynsa.

"I hope so," she told me "I don't want to be out here any longer then I really have to."

"What," I asked trying to make a joke about the current situation "you scared of the dark?" I gave a little laugh before turning to Lynsa to see her not laughing and actually looking away from me. I gave myself a silent sigh before thinking. Really Lynsa, really?

**District four's Shoney Germoal's POV**

I noticed that Eva was acting kind of weird when we left the career camp, she looked like she was looking for a way out of whatever she was thinking of. It was only small signs such as eyes glancing in one direction for a spit second before turning back to where they normally were, but small things can turn the tables on someone. I was lucky to even notice her signs. I didn't know what she was going to do until she did it. While traveling the jungle, she took the opportunity to leave the group while nobody was looking, or so she thought. She silently left the group without anyone noticing, nobody but me. And soon, we were away from Lynsa and Arrowe without them noticing that either one of us were gone.

My stealth was one of the things I was proud of, it helped me slip away from Lynsa and Arrowe and helped me tail Evaline without her noticing. Mom and dad said that stealth was a useless skill, they said that I needed to be stronger and more aggressive, I needed to be like the other careers, well if I were like them I wouldn't have been able to tail her now would I?

I followed Eva silently though the jungle until she decided to take a little rest. She thought that she was far enough from everyone to take a little break before continuing to wherever she was going. I then started to go around her as she breathed in and out gently while placing her hands onto her knees. As quickly and silently as I could, I walked around her in a semi-circle. I was careful not to let her know that I was near by only gently rubbing onto the underbrush, steeping on moss, and avoiding the twigs that made the most noise or that were prone to snap.

Evaline didn't notice me making my way around her, she didn't notice me when I got out of the cover of the shadows in front of her, she didn't even notice me as I walked closer to her. I stopped walking towards her when I was about ten feet away from her when she looked up. We looked at each other for several seconds before she screamed out what she was thinking the entire time, she screamed out in fright. The bad news, she screamed loudly, the good news, she covered her mouth a split second later. I just hoped that nobody heard that, or if they did they thought nothing of it.

"Having fun?" I asked her as she began to calm down from my sudden appearance in front of her. Her breathing slowed down before she looked around, probably to see if the other careers had heard her and were heading towards us at this moment. But a few moments passed with only our light breathing, the distant light snaps of twigs breaking from who knows what, and various other little noises, but no human sounds, I think.

"How'd you find me?" Eva asked me in a loud whisper, she was probably still worried that there were other careers out there ready to kill her at a moments notice.

"I followed you." I told her truthfully in a normal sounding voice, I knew that there was nobody out there besides the two of us. I wasn't followed. She looked straight at me while narrowing her eyes, she obviously didn't believe me. Aw well, her choice. "Fine, don't believe me." She then tisked while looking to her right, not wanting to look at me.

"Why are you here?" She asked while not looking at me.

"I knew you were leaving." I told her before slinging my backpack off my shoulders and throwing it to the ground before unzipping it and reaching in for a small, but good sized, grey plastic box. I pulled the grey box out of my backpack before tossing it to her. She caught the box with both hands before looking at it and studying it.

"What is this?" She asked while opening it. I didn't need to answer now, it was a first aid kit. It contained roll up bandages, burn ointment, disinfectant, fever pills along with a needle and medical thread. When I guessed she was done looking at the stuff, she looked up to me, her face unreadable when her mouth opened. "Why?" She asked like it was some sort of trap or something.

"That's the one thing that you forgot while taking food, water, iodine, wire, clothes, and that knife. Everything you need to survive the wild, except meds." While I talked, she quickly slipped the box into her large, green-blue backpack before looking back at me

"Why though?" She asked still wondering why I gave it to her "aren't you going to kill me for trying to betray the career pack?" She then pulled out her knife and pointed it at me "that's why your here aren't you, you just want to give me the meds to make me lower my guard."

"You serious?" I asked her unconcerned of what action she was thinking of doing as I pulled out my own knife and held it out in front of me ready to strike in my right hand "your going to accuse me?" I said while pointing to my chest with my left hand. Well, here goes nothing. Then without warning, I ran towards her at full speed. My knife was smaller then her's, a four inch blade verses her seven inch survival knife. I swung my knife at her throat, but she leaned her back away from my blade and avoided death. But I used my momentum to spin in a circle and slammed a powerful back fist into her face as she leaned forwards to get back to her natural stance. I wasn't a fighter, I wasn't very strong, but I could still at least kind of fight, after all, I was born and raised in a career district. But as Eva landed on the ground before quickly rolling to her back and getting to her feet in a couple short seconds, I reminded myself that she was from the same district I was from. We weren't trained like those from one or two, or even some of the other careers in our district, but we were still trained fighters.

When I completed by full circle spin, I saw Eva get to her feet before looking at me in the eyes and smiling like she had discovered a great secret and was ready to use it to her advantage.

"So I was right." She said with a half laugh before running towards me with a knife in her hand, ready to kill me. She was fast, but I was faster. Just like in the mock fights with my brother Galex, I sidestepped to the left and let the blade slice the air to my right, inches away from my face. While she was still going forward, I gave her a roundhouse kick to her back with my left leg which caused her to move farther forward then she expected. Her forced, unexpected, extra momentum forward caused her to lose her balance before she started to fall to the ground.

Her face was about to hit the ground before she swung her right arm forward and spined the right side of her body forward before doing a shoulder roll forward. But I followed her movements and got behind her as she got to her feet after finishing her roll. When she was at her full hight, I grabbed her jaws with my left hand covering the lower half of her face including her mouth while at the same time, placing the blade of my knife at her throat. But I on purposely didn't let the blade touch her skin. I then leaned up to her ear before saying

"Any last-" I then felt something hard smash into my face before I was forced to back off from her before feeling fire rip across the center of my face. Whatever she did to me, it stung like hell. I gave out a suppressed shout of pain before I touched my face where it hurt with my left hand. I felt something warm and wet on my finger tips before pulling them back and looking at them to see blood on each of the four finger tips that touched my face. I looked up, away from my fingers, towards Eva, and saw the tip of her survival knife with drips of blood on it. Eva pointed her bloody tipped knife at me before saying

"Come at me again, I dare you." I touched my nose to make sure it wasn't broken. I felt my nose for a bit before instantly deciding that it wasn't even close to being broken, it sure hurt though. I then smiled before looking back her to and saying

"Perfect." I then saw confusion in her eyes before she asked

"What? What's perfect?" She didn't know, that was the point though, if she knew what I was thinking it probably wouldn't have worked.

"That should lower suspicion." I told her before sheathing my knife, turning around and walk towards my backpack.

"Hay Shoney," Eva asked yet again approaching me. I didn't know wither to feel threatened or not, but it felt like she was pointing her knife at me as I crouched at my backpack to get some disinfectant and roll up bandages "what was perfect?" She really wanted to know from the tone of her voice. I pulled out a small bottle of disinfectant before twisting the cap off and pouring some across my face where it hurt. It felt like she had cut me from just below my right cheek bone, and diagonally up my face, just missing my nose, going between my eyes, until it had cut through my left eye brow. I don't think it was very deep, not enough to leave a permanent scar, but enough that it would hurt for a few days or so. As the disinfectant touched my wound, a sharp, stinging pain ran though the center of my face.

"My plan," I told her as I finished pouring the disinfectant on my wound and was ready to place the cap back on the bottle. I started to unwrap the rollup bandages when she said

"Plan? What plan?"

"My plan was to get wounded by you so that the other careers would think that I tried to stop you. We got into a fight, and you escaped. Easy right?"

"I guess." Eva said like she couldn't believe it. I wrapped the bandages around the center of my face twice before tying a knot at the top of my head before ripping the fabric and saving the rest of the bandages for later. I threw the remaining bandages and disinfectant into my backpack before zipping it up and slinging it over my shoulders and headed away from Evaline and back towards the career camp before they thought I was dead or something.

"Hope we don't meet again." I told her without looking back. I didn't want to meet her in case the next time we met, we'd have to fight each other for real. And if that was the case, one of us would have to die. I didn't want to kill her, but I would if I had to, I didn't want to die, that was for sure.

"Hay Shoney." I heard Evaline call out in a loud whisper

"What?" I asked while still walking and not looking at her

"Why?" Should I tell her? Sure, why not, its not like I'd see her again. Hopefully.

"Underdog." Was all I told her before disappearing into the dark.

Yeah, she was an underdog, the underdog career. When watching the games back home, I cheered more for the underdogs then I did for the others. Last year, while everyone was rooting for careers like Steel Redstone or that district seven boy Douglas Vallstar to win, I was rooting for the weak district three girl that managed to survive till the final four. You didn't need to be strong like Steel or Douglas to win, sometimes, all you needed to do was be cunning. I always wanted to do something to make the small fries win the games. Everyone in the district thought that was weird, but I didn't care. But now, I was in the games, and I could rig the games to make the underdogs have a better chance, just like I did with Evaline and the meds. But I was an underdog as well, and I was going to get home, no matter what anyone thought of me.

A/N: Holy crap it's midnight! Anyway, here's the next chapter, hope you all like.

Random question: Do you guys think that authors of novels/video games/whatever read fanfiction of their novel/game/whatever?

Another random question: Do you guys see this. Capital (fascist) District 13 (communism).


	21. Fight and flight

**Day 2. Early morning**

**District seven's Bo Heatherfield's POV**

It was like I wasn't me. It was like I wasn't in control of my body anymore, it was like some kind of monster had taken over my body and could control all of my movements. I tried to fight back, but it was no use, I just wasn't strong enough to fight whatever was controlling me. All around me were forests of red and black shades, in fact, everything around me were only shades of red and black. Every kind of red and every kind of black you could think of, and more, that was the world around me. Even the rain that was falling for the sky was red and black, like blood and ink. And here I was pinning a girl, I don't know who, to the ground that was layered with grass, sticks, and a thin layer of water that ran though everything in its path. Those were shades of red and black as well. The girl I had pinned down by pressing my knees on her arms with my full weight was fighting me for air, because I had my hands wrapped around her neck and was strangling her with every ounce of strength that my body possessed, that was if the person controlling my body was really me. I watched in horror as red and black ran though our skin and slipped of the edges of our body like water, but I guess it was only the obvious thing for it to do, it was rain.

I watched as the life force was being drained out of the girl with each passing second, her body was being cut off from the oxygen around her and her body was beginning to shut down. I was strangling her so hard that her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. Then where the ends of my fingers were, dark blood began to seep out of her crimson skin before the darkness ran down my fingers, down her body, and into the black and red shades of the rainwater in which she laid on.

I felt powerless against myself as her breathing get weaker, and weaker, and weaker. The fight in her was draining along with her life force. I tried to pry my hands away from her neck before I killed her, but my hands wouldn't cooperate, it was like they wanted to kill that girl no matter what. I couldn't stop my hands from strangling her. I was terrified of those hands. Was I going to kill her? Could I stop myself from killing her before it was too late?

The girl's breathing grew raspier and weaker with every passing second, until she was no longer breathing anymore. I felt the pulse in her neck slowly die before it died completely. Her black blood then stopped flowing from her neck as I finally got my hands off her neck. But it was too late, the damage had been done, she was dead. I lifted my hands up in horror to see my red shaded hands covered in shades of black liquid that ran down my hands and dripped into the black and red water below. No. I had killed someone. I had killed someone. The one thing that I swore I would never do in my life. I felt tears build up in my eyes as my vision blurred the world around me. Why? Why did I do this? I looked back down at the girl that I had killed before she let out a high pitched scream.

My eyes shot open before I lifted my body off the floor before looking left and right quickly. Around me, I saw rotten brown wood with mildly bright yellow sun light seeping though the cracks along with gray dust particles slowly floating carelessly though the air around me. Colour. I looked down to my hands to see that they weren't shades of red or had black blood on them, but they were covered in sweat, as was my entire body. And I felt tears roll down my face as well, they must have came from the dream. But now, I didn't feel like crying from misery, I now felt like crying from joy, I hadn't kill anyone. I gave myself a little smile before I heard a girl's voice scream again. I moved at a cautions speed before going to a vent like cover thing and looked though it to see a girl with medium tanned skin and springy dark bronze curls whimpering as she was doing a sort of strange dance between two long benches while swatting off small, black spiders on her body. She was totally freaking out, and it was funny watching her freak out from such a little thing. But they were all over her, tens of spiders were crawling on her body and she was desperately trying to get them off. Well, I hoped nobody heard that screaming, I didn't want anyone to find this church that I was hiding in.

I found it yesterday while looking for someplace good to hide, and I stumbled across this place and thought that it might have some secret place to hide in. I was right, this church had an attic which was hidden from plain sight. And even though it was covered in dust, cobwebs, and smelled like rotted wood, I didn't mind. It was a good place to hide, it wasn't easy to find unless you knew where to look, and it kept me warm at night. I liked it.

**District one's Griffin Holloway's POV**

"Well if he wants to hunt on his own let him," said the voice of Lucifer Despar as he, Howl, and I searched the abandoned city for any unlucky tributes that happened to stumble upon our path "see if I care, the three of us are more then a match without that guy anyway." That guy was Tharizdun, he was supposed to hunt tributes with us, but I guess he thought that it would be more fun to do it himself. He may be strong and skilled, how else would he have managed to earn that eleven in training, but he wasn't one of the smart people here. Unlike him, I wasn't going to just run around looking for tributes on my own, there were some sneaky bastards in the games and I wasn't about to get stabbed in the back and die because I thought I could handle them on my own. I was going to stick to the group, for now at least.

We searched the streets, we searched the buildings we thought that tributes might be hiding in, but our search turned out empty handed. And as the heat went up, we were all getting more and more frustrated not being able to find any tributes around here. But how hard could it be to find one of the nineteen tributes left in the arena? Harder then we thought apparently. I felt anger towards the tributes hiding from us, why did they have to make it so hard for us? They'd get what was coming to them sooner or later no matter how much they hid.

After about a couple hours of searching we decided to take a little break out of the sun and heat by taking shelter inside a small, ruined building. The three of us stepped inside the building and took cover in the shade. When we got inside, I felt the temperature fall by maybe ten degrees, it was nice. Inside the building were bits of ruined, wooden walls, chewed up furniture, and green vines that covered parts of the walls. There were a couple of vine crusted windows that offered protection from the sun rays as well. The three of us walked over to a center of the room which had bits of ruined furniture that were covered with dust and what appeared to be either bite or claw marks. I choose to sit on a wooden chair while Lucifer and Howl choose two different, single seat couches. As we sat down on our furniture, gray dust flew up into the air before slowly falling back down.

"Where do you think their all hiding?" Howl asked as she slipped her jacket and bright orange backpack off her shoulders before unzipping it to take out a small bottle of water. I had abandoned my thin jacket and t-shirt back at the camp, I knew that I wouldn't need it during the day.

"No idea," Lucifer answered also taking his jacket and backpack off his shoulders and taking out a bottle of water before twisting the cap off and downing it "but it's so hot out there I'd think that their hiding either inside a building or at some place that you can place your whole body into water, like a lake or something." That made sense, a lot of the tributes out there probably didn't have very much supplies, to say the least water, so they wouldn't want to waste energy out in the baking hot sun. I was thinking the same way, I'd rather not look for them during the sun's peak hours, which were coming up soon. I looked at Lucifer and Howl to see that they were covered in sweat even though it was just barley high noon. I took by backpack off my shoulders before opening it and digging my hand through it until I managed to grab my own water bottle. I twisted the cap off before letting the cool water go down my throat. I felt refreshed as the water wet my dry throat and cooled my head.

"Well if there's a lake or river in this arena it'd probably be in the jungle," Howl announced as I drank my water "so I don't think that the city tributes will be finding mass sources of water anytime soon." Unless they found a stash of water inside a building.

Silence occurred for a bit before I heard

"Do you think Shoney let that girl go?" Lucifer asked. Last night, Shoney came in late, he had a long cut that stretched from his cheek bone to his eyebrow. At the time, I didn't even think of him letting anyone go. But now that Lucifer said that, I was beginning to wonder.

"Who knows," Howl said "and I say it's good Eva's away, she'd have only slowed us down anyway." Or maybe Shoney was too weak to kill even her, if it were me who found Eva sneaking away I would have killed her with either my sword or my mace, or maybe even just my fists, her death would have been one less tribute to worry about. I now felt frustrated at Shoney, he couldn't kill that district four girl, now we might have to go out and look for her instead of her being dead. One more thing to think about, one more thing to plan, one more distraction. I hate distractions. "What the hell?" I heard Howl say questionably. What? What was happening? I looked up to Howl before looking at where she was looking. I looked in the direction she was looking at to see a large group of black rats running across the wooden floor. Their claws hitting the wood making a sliding sort of sound times a hundred. What were they running from? Animals don't just run away from nothing. I leaped off the chair I was sitting on and pulled out my sword ready to strike whatever came from the shadows. My eyes followed the rats until I found where they were emerging from. The rats were running out of a stairway that looked like it lead to the floor below.

I tensed as I waited for whatever was scaring the rats to pop out of the shadows of the stairway. I could take it, I could defeat whatever it was that scared these weak, miserable creatures. Unlike those rats, I could fight back, I wasn't scared. I wished I knew what they were running from, and how many they were running away from, so that I could decide between wither my sword or my mace was better.

Suddenly, I heard a sound that sounded a lot like low thunder. It came from the stairway. I breathed in and out slowly to calm my shaking fingers down. I was a trained warrior, I couldn't be scared, that's what training taught me, fear makes you hesitant. Being hesitant makes you lose focus. Losing focus could be the death of you.

I saw a pair of red eyes appear in the shadows and instantly thought of demons. But I knew better, it was a mutt. It wasn't that tall, but it was taller then the rats that were running away, it was nothing. But then suddenly, more and more red eyes appeared, like red orbs appearing in a night sky. I saw five pairs appear. Ten pairs. Twenty? More? Then I saw a figure burst out of the shadows, a giant black rat that was maybe two feet tall and three times as long with blazing red eyes. I heard something slice though the air to my right before I heard a light thunk and saw blood fly from the leading rat's head. It was probably a throwing knife that got thrown by Howl, she was wearing a hunting vest that could hold nine throwing knives on her chest. As that one dead rat fell, several alive ones ran up to replace it's spot. I now wished that I had chosen my mace, it would have been a much better weapon for this situation.

One of the faster rats ran ahead of the group and closed in on me. I saw it close the distance between us before leaping towards me baring it's big buck teeth at me. I swung my sword at the rat's head as it was airborne, my sword easily found it's target and sliced it's head off at the center of the neck. Rat blood splashed on me as it's head and body went to either side of me. The blood was warm and kind of disgusting, but I didn't let it distract me, I knew that distractions were bad, especially in moments like this.

"Holy hell!" I heard Lucifer shout to my side "we can't fight all that!" Speak for yourself, I could handle these pests.

"We have to get out of here!" I heard Howl shout as I kicked a rat mutt that had worked it's way to my feet before stabbing one a little further away. I twisted my sword before pulling it out of that one rat, and swinging it horizontally to slice five giant rat skulls in rapid succession. "Griffin! Come on! Let's get out of here!"

"No!" I shouted back to Howl. I wasn't about to lose to a bunch of rats, I wouldn't allow it, I was better then these rats. I was a human, they were an animal. I was stronger, smarter, and way better trained then a bunch of stupid rats.

"If you stay you die!" Howl shouted as I kicked a giant rat's chin so hard that it started to do backflips in midair. I might have thought it was funny any other time, but not now. And I wasn't going to run away from rats. To run away was like losing, and I wasn't going to lose to these stupid little bastards!

**Day 2. Mid-Afternoon.**

**District three's Nessa Christine Johnston's POV**

It was bad luck that we got a backpack with nothing in it, it hurt our survival rate. But earlier today, Max thought of something smart, or at least something kind of smart. He found a three foot long piece of thin rebar that had a good sized piece of concrete stuck on one end of the pole making it look like some kind of hammer or club, depending how you look at it. It seemed a little too heavy for him, but we didn't really have anything better to defend ourselves with at the moment. At least now we had a chance if we encountered another tribute trying to kill us.

"What are we going to do about food?" Max asked me as we walked down the ruined streets "we only have that bag of nuts and that's it. We also don't really have a good weapon to hunt with or have any rope to use as traps." I was thinking the same thing, later today, one of us, or both of us, would consume that single bag of nuts and we'd be left with an empty bottle, and that worried me, we'd be facing starvation and dehydration. I felt useless without any kind of rope with me. If I had some rope with me, I could make a trap or two and maybe catch something to eat. But we didn't have any rope, or wire, or anything.

"I don't know," I told Max sadly "I don't know." Max turned to me and smiled before saying

"Well, we'll think of something. We will think of something. Or something will come to us, which ever comes first." Hopefully something will come of us, and soon, we wouldn't survive long with what we had right now. We had to find something, anything that could aid us. But Max could be right, we could find something that could help us, who knows, maybe we'll find a store full of supplies.

We joked around for a bit while walking the streets to take our minds off of how thirsty we were when we both looked up. I then stopped dead in my tracks and I gasped out in horror when I saw what was in front of us. My blood seemed to freeze as I looked at the hulking figure standing about twenty feet away from us. I took a step back as Max seemed to step forward and give me cover from the monster in front of me. But even with Max in front of me, I felt fear grip every part of my body while filling my mind with terror. I wanted to run away, but my feet were frozen in place.

"Well hello there," the collector said to us as he flashed his sharp, pointed teeth at us "going somewhere, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere?" No, he had found us, why, out of all the tributes here, did we have to run into him? The psychopathic murderer that was the worst thing that a human being could be. We didn't stand a chance against him, I knew that for a fact. Tharizdun took a single step towards us and I already felt as if we were in more danger then we already were. "Come to me little girl." He calmly commanded to me while still flashing that pointed teeth grin at us and holding out his right hand like he was a parent going to hold a child's hand.

"I'll stop him." Max told me. What!? No! We have to run! You can't fight him! We have to run!

"Max no!" I shouted too late. Max had already started to run towards Tharizdun holding out his rebar club ready to strike. I reached my hand out to grab Max, to try and stop him from doing the stupid thing that he was about to do, but he was too fast, and I was too slow, to stop him. Max ran from my reach and closed in on Tharizdun before swinging his rebar club with all his might and yelling at the tribute he was attacking. Max swung as hard as he could, he swung like a man on a mission, but even with all that effort, Tharizdun easily caught the concrete part of the rebar club in one mammoth left hand like Max had thrown him an apple. Max reacted in shock and just stared at Tharizdun dumbly taking in what just happened. I saw Tharizdun smile wickedly before he thrust his left hand forwards and smashed the broken concrete into Max's face. Max's body reacted by falling to the ground like a sack of rocks. His body landed on the street with a thud as he held his face in pain while moaning loudly. The collector threw the rebar club away with ease while looking at Max with his sharp green eyes that were filled with violence.

The collector walked up to Max's downed body before he had time to recover. When he was standing right next to Max's body, he lifted up a giant foot and gave a powerful stomp to Max's stomach. I covered my mouth as I screamed. When his foot connected with Max's body, Max reacted by crying out in pain while his arms and legs flew into the air from the sheer force of the stomp. His limbs barley reached the ground when the collector lifted the same foot up and stomped on Max's stomach again sending his limbs back into the air. Tharizdun then stomped on Max's stomach a third time. A fourth time. A fifth time. I saw blood then shoot up from Max's mouth as I heard him give out a sickening cough. Seeing Max's frail body being attacked by the collector's powerful stomps and seeing blood being coughed from his mouth, I wouldn't be surprised if some of his internal organs were badly damaged. It was horrible, yet, I couldn't look away.

The collector stared at him like a predator does to it's prey. Max then started to give out painful cries as his body registered the pain that was delivered to it. Max only got hit six times, but it seemed enough to put him out of commission for a long while. Right now, I just wanted all of this to stop, I didn't want Max to be pushed around like that. I saw Max painfully roll to his stomach and start to feebly crawl away from his attacker. But Max barley made it a foot when the collector kicked him in the chest causing him to cry out in pain again before being rolled onto his back. Tharizdun then looked down on his helpless victim and smiled at him before lifting his foot up above Max's face. Max lifted up his arms to block the foot that came crashing down on his face so hard that I swore that I could feel it on my face. I covered my eyes and looked away before running away from the battle field. As the cannon fired, I only caught a glimpse of Max's face when Tharizdun lifted up his boot, but even that was too much for me. Max's face was completely flattened. When Tharizdun's hiking boot smashed into Max's head, the bones in his cheeks and nose as well as some of his teeth got sent into his head while bits of skull shrapnel got sent into his brain. No blood came out of his head, but the internal damage was much worse then it looked on the outside.

I didn't look back as I ran away from Max's killer, not even once, and I felt sick about it. I didn't help Max, all I did was stand around and watch him get killed. But I didn't want to see how close he was to me, I didn't know if he was close or far, but the sound of steel toed boots clicked behind me so loudly that I thought that he was right behind me, close enough to grab me at any moment. But if he was that close he would have grabbed me without hesitation, so I was safe, for now.

I ran until I got tired, which wasn't that far away from where I started, all I did was run around the corner and run into the first open building to my right. I ran into the ruined building that had grass growing from some parts of the ground and vines hugging the walls. I ran in and quickly slammed the door before desperately looking for a place to hide. There was a long and high, counter and table combination thing that I could hide behind on the left side of the room, but Tharizdun would only need to simply look over the top of the table to see me behind it. And if he looked in the huge mirror that was hanging on the wall behind the long table at the right angle, he'd be able to see me. There were other tables that were smaller and rounder, like normal tables on the right side of the room. They'd offer some protection from Tharizdun's attacks if I used it as a shield and if he decided to use his fists, legs, that seven inched knife that was clipped to his belt, or the two machetes that were also attached to his belt. But it would be useless if he used that mace of his that was hanging on his back. The mace had no spikes or anything on it, it was just a blunt, bludgeoning weapon, but he could use it to smash the table in two. I didn't like my chances with either option.

I looked around room to see that this was the only room, it was a single story building. I couldn't go upstair to hide seeing as there were no upstairs. I looked around the room again to see that there were several closets scattered though out the building. I could hide in one of them. It wasn't that good of a hiding space, but it was the best option I could see here. I quickly sprinted to the closest one to me, which was the second last from the left, and used the last of my energy to open one of the two closet doors and close it. As soon as I heard the click of the closet door closing shut, the entrence doors of the building opened loudly as the collector almost seemed to literally rip the rotten doors off. I gave a little shriek terror, but luckily, the sound of crashing doors drowned out the sound of my shriek. I then held my breath and tried not to move as Tharizdun walked into the building and started to walk around the single room looking for me. Though the thin, vertical hole that separated the two doors, I watched and heard Tharizdun take slow, heavy steps around the room looking for me. I saw him walk over to the long table on the left side of the room before peeking over the counter seeing nothing. I'm glad that I decided not to hide there. I heard him huff loudly before turning over to the right side of the room. He walked over to the small tables, stopped near them, and examined them for a second before kicking one over with his boot causing a loud thud as the table hit the ground top first. He then did that with the rest of the tables causing a pointless ruckus. He looked like an angry child, but I was in no laughing mood right now. I was terrified. He kicked each and every table before decided to do something else.

I watched the collector pace around the room with heavy footsteps like a hungry animal thinking of how to catch it's prey. Then unexpectedly, the collector walked up to the closest that was at the far right of the room, and punched it so hard that his right fist went though the wood. I almost gasped at his actions, but I covered my mouth with my hands to prevent any sounds from coming out. I then watched him removed his now bloody hand from the inside of the closet before looking inside though the hole he created. While he was looking in the closet, I thought of how mentally unstable he was, after all, he punched the closet, even if it's wood was thin. He didn't seem to see anything interesting as he pulled his head away from the closest before going over to the next closest to his left and smashing another fist sized hole in it.

He repeated the procedure each time, he punched a closet, he looked inside, then moved on when he didn't find anything. Soon, he was at the closet I was in. I heard his boots hit the ground directly in front of me, stopping for a second, before hearing and seeing a fist smash though the closet I was in. The only good news I could say was that he punched the right side of the closet and I was on the left side. I stayed as quiet as I could and as still as I could, but I was regaining my energy back and it was hard for me to stay still for long. I watched the bloody fist slip out of the hole before light shone in for a few seconds before darkness appeared. I knew at that moment, Tharizdun was looking inside my closet, looking for me. I stayed quiet, I tried to stay still, hoping that he wouldn't see me. I was sweating from fear, I felt like trembling, I wanted to scream, but I didn't, I couldn't, if I did he'd find me for sure. I was worried that he'd find me, worried that I'd move, worried that I'd make a sound, and most of all, worried that he'd find me.

It felt like forever, but he eventually leaned away from the hole he had punched in the closet. I heard his footsteps go to my right before stopping before I heard the sound of wood breaking. I continued to hold my breath as silence hung in the air and all I could hear was my own heart beating fiercely against my chest. I forced myself to keep quiet and still, even thought it was hard for me to do. I had to keep still and quiet, otherwise he'd find me, and he wouldn't just kill me, he'd do other, terrible things to me.

I felt myself shaking from being so quiet and still for so long, I don't think I've ever been this still in my life. And for so long too. It seemed to last a lifetime before I heard the collector give out a loud sigh of frustration before hearing his heavy boots start to hit the grassed ground as he passed me before his steps became quieter and quieter. When I thought it was safe to breathe again, I let out a sigh of relief, he hadn't caught me. I was filled with joy, he hadn't found me. I was safe again.

Suddenly, a loud crashing sound came from in front of me. I screamed in fear and shock as I saw a bloody fist only inches from my head. I then watched the bloody fist cut itself on the pointed ends of the wood as it slipped out from the hole it created.

"There you are." I heard Tharizdun growl from outside the closet. No. How had he found me? He wasn't here a few seconds ago. Had I let out my breath too early? But I heard him exit the building. Hadn't I? I saw a boot smash though the center of the two doors sending bits of broken wood flying all around the boot before it retracted out with a crunching sound. Suddenly, a flood of light hit my eyes and blinded me. Did he rip off the door? I covered my eyes while feeling something grab my shirt. I then felt my feet leave the ground before something hard hit the back of my head. I shouted as pain rushed into the back of my head. I felt my eyes start to water as more pain around the back of my skull came in. What had I hit? A wall? I looked up, and though blurred vision, I saw Tharizdun walking towards me. Terror, had taken over my body again as I felt tears flow down my face.

**District three's Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone's POV**

That little girl thought she could hide from me? Well, she almost did. She almost succeeded, but just as I was ready to exit this building I heard someone breathing. I followed the breath back to a closet before finding her in it. I ripped the door open, grabbed her, and threw her at the edge of the long table where a loud thunk occurred.

She was holding the back of her head and crying. It must have hurt. But what did I know about pain, I never felt any. I reached back and grabbed the mace which was strapped to my back and pulled it out of restraints. I pulled it out slowly, relishing every moment of this. After all, nobody was going to stop me like back in the district.

I pulled my mace out all the way and was ready to use it when my little district partner seemed to regain her senses. She started to slowly back away from me, but she didn't get far after I pressed my right boot on her chest and held her in place. I turned my eyes to one of her legs and looked at where my striking point would be. I couldn't have my victims run away from me. I choose the spot that I guessed was the most effective. I lifted up my mace and smashed the blunt end on her kneecap. A sickening crunch and a scream of pain filled my ears with pleasure. This was nothing like back in the district, back then, I had to find some way to keep them quiet so that their screams wouldn't attract attention. But this, this was easy, all I needed to do was walk up to them and crush. I quickly turned to her other leg and lifted my mace up once again before slamming it down and destroying her other kneecap. Another sickening crunch. Another wail of pain. It was wonderful. But the best was still to come.

I lifted my boot off her little chest knowing that she couldn't go very far very fast now that I had destroyed her kneecaps. I placed my mace back onto my back, satisfied with my work. This was almost a work of beauty if I say so myself. Easy too. Almost too easy it seemed. I didn't have to worry about anyone finding out, I didn't have to worry about hiding anything, I didn't have to worry about anything. I could do as I pleased whenever I wanted. Just knowing that was the best feeling I ever felt. It was even better then when I successfully got the girls to my house and disposed of their bodies after I was done with them. It was even better then when I had killed my parents and two brothers by burning down the house eight months ago. Heh. I'm glad I killed them, if I hadn't killed them, I wonder how many of the girls I kidnapped, raped, and killed would have never meet their end by me. Yes, this was truly the best feeling ever.

I grabbed my little district partner by the shirt, lifted her up, and slung her over my right shoulder. I heard her crying for mercy. I head her cry to me to not do anything to her. I heard her crying for her mom and dad. Well I'll tell you little girl, there's no mercy here. There's also no mom and no dad here with you now. Just me.

A/N: Wow, I didn't expect this chapter to be this long, ah well. Hope you enjoyed. Got pictures for Steel, Holly, and Sophie.

**Death list: **

**19th place: Max Starling. Crushed by Zap/Tharizdun**


	22. Destroyed miracle

**Day 2. Mid afternoon**

**District ten's Life Lee's POV**

One moment we were walking the streets looking for animals to hunt, and maybe some items that could aid us if we searched in the buildings. Who knows, we might find something that be useful to us if we only just looked. I doubted it would be easy to find something that wasn't at the cornucopia, but I could dream couldn't I? We had plenty of water with us, Rayne's backpack made sure of that. With seven, half liter bottles filled with water and a good sized jar of iodine, we were set for more then a couple days in terms of water. Food on the other hand was the problem, the two ears of corn that were also in Rayne's backpack had been eaten by us yesterday. And today, we had eaten the apple that was in my backpack for breakfast today. My backpack contained a basic first aid kit containing roll up bandages, a needle, and thread. Those items plus a single pair of night vision glasses and a blowgun with six darts. I never held a blowgun before, let alone used one, so I doubted that I could even hit anything with this weapon even if my life depended on it. I didn't like it, but I kept it anyway, who knows if it'll come in handy later on. An ax or a hatchet would have been a better weapon for me, for the one simple fact that it's the only weapon that I could really even use. But the blowgun would have to do for now. At least until I found something better.

One moment we were walking the streets of the abandoned city, looking for animals to hunt, or items that could aid us if we searched the buildings hard enough. But as we were heading down the mossy, ruined street, we heard something that sounded a lot like low, rolling thunder heading towards us.

"What is that?" I asked Rayne as we stopped near a four way intersection of the mixed and matched concrete and grass road surrounded by ruined buildings. The sound sounded a lot like rolling thunder, but it wasn't like any thunder I had heard in my life, but it sounded familiar some how. Very familiar.

"I don't know." Rayne told me. She sounded as confused as I was. What kind of thing could produce a sound like that? I tried looking into my memories for what that sound could be. But I couldn't remember what made that kind sound. No, not sound, more like sounds, there seemed to be more then one thing producing this. Ahh this was frustrating, I recognized it, but I couldn't name what it was. Think Life think, what could it possibly be? No sooner did I get into my thoughts when I saw a blond haired boy rush past us with inhuman speed. That guy had ran faster then I had seen Rayne run, and Rayne was fast, he just zipped past the two of us without seeming to notice us, and that surprised me. As the rolling thunder came closer, I wondered if that's what he was running away from. I wondered. Not much sooner did a boy, which I recognized as the district one boy Griffin, run past us. Same as the blond haired boy that ran past us, he didn't even seem to notice us, he didn't even glance this way he ran past us with sweat and blood pouring all over his body while huffing his lungs out. Right behind him was the little district two girl that Rayne had tried to choke out in training. She wasn't as fast as the other two, but she was keeping close to Griffin. Again, she never even noticed us as her sweat drenched body ran past us. Ok, either two careers were chasing a non-career, or three careers were running away from the thunder. This was weird, and it didn't look good either, not in the least. Curious of what they were running from, I looked in the direction of where the three runners had came from, and saw a swarm of black coming towards us. The black swarm was a huge number of giant black rats each containing two red eyes. I was so shocked and so scared of the sheer number of those things that I felt as if I was going to have a heart attack. I saw what must be hundreds of them running down the street, towards us. I felt the impulse to run surge though my entire body as they approached us, we couldn't take them all on.

"Oh shit." I breathed out in shock as I saw the swarm get closer and closer to us while the rumbling of thunder got louder and louder. I turned to Rayne and desperately shouted to her "we've got to get out of here!" I didn't want to die by getting trampled by those things.

"Couldn't agree more!" She shouted before I saw her turn one hundred and eighty degrees and start running away with inhuman speed. What the... Frustrated that she seemed to abandon me to these rats, I turned as quickly as I could and started running to try and catch up with her. Rayne was already a fair distance away when I started running. Goddamn Rayne, slow down and wait for me. I continued to follow Rayne until she turned a corner and disappeared. Damn, if I get too far away from her I'll lose her. I ran up to the building she ran behind and did a sharp turn to get behind it. I then felt something grab my right arm and pull me hard, so hard that I thought my arm was going to be ripped out of it's socket, and it surprised me so much that it scared me. I nearly slammed into the building wall as the thing pulled me towards it. I was scared and ready to attack whatever had grabbed me until I saw that the thing that grabbed me was Rayne. I let out a breath of relief, but then I felt something slam into my mouth and shut off the air coming out of my mouth. "Be quiet." I heard Rayne harshly hiss at me "You want them to find us?" It took me a second to get out of the shock I was in and realize that she was talking about the rats.

I wasn't going to say anything, but Rayne kept her hand on my mouth, and she pressed hard. It felt like she was trying to suffocate me, and for someone of her figure, which was even thinner then my scrawny body, she was unbelievably strong, and that scared me.

As the rumbling thunder of the paws of the rats ran past our hiding spot, I remembered where I had heard the sound of low rumbling thunder before. Back home in district ten, when a herd of animals were being moved from one place to another, they'd make that sound, the sound of tens or hundreds of hooves moving across the ground.

Horses, that was the common cause of the noise. Even though it was rats running by us and not horses, I thought of how Old Den, our old faithful horse, who somehow got scared and crushed my sister Faerie to death. I felt like crying because I remembered that. Poor Faerie, being crushed to a bloody pulp until she was unrecognizable. It terrified me. And that memory caused me to remember that I couldn't breathe though Rayne's hand, I felt as if my chest was being crushed from the lack of air it was receiving. I tapped Rayne in the arm to tell her that I couldn't breathe. But she didn't seem to notice. I was scared, was I going to die here?

**District one's Lynsa Fylar's POV**

Guarding the cornucopia wasn't a difficult job, not in the least. It was super easy, nobody tried to attack us or anything. In fact, it seemed so easy to some people, because one of us was sleeping on the job. That was how relaxed everyone was here. Nothing to fear, not a care in the world. It was safe here, and I liked it. I looked over to Shoney with his bandaged face, sleeping soundly with not a care in the world right now. And there was Arrowe climbing the cornucopia just because he felt like it. In fact, I seemed to be the only one taking this job at least kind of seriously. Ah well, what could you do? I wasn't about to wake Shoney up from his nap, it just seemed rude, and Arrowe looked like he was having fun and I didn't want to spoil it for him. After all, why would I need to disturb any of them, it's not like anything is going to-

A loud, high pitch scream then pierced the sound of birds singing in the background and startled me so much that I almost tripped over my own feet. It was so loud and close I wondered what had snuck up on us. I heard where the screaming came from and quickly loaded an arrow onto my bow string and turned towards the source of the sound. There I saw Tharizdun with a little red haired girl slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. That girl was screaming at him and pounding her arms on him in a desperate attempt to escape. But while her arms were flying around like crazy, I wondered why her legs weren't even moving in the slightest.

"What's going on?" I shouted to Tharizdun as he approached the cornucopia with a huge grin on his face. What was happening? What had he done to her? What was he going to do to her?

"I'm going to have fun with this girl." He answered. Have fun with her? What did he mean by that? And that grin on his face scared me, what was he thinking? I worried for that little girl now.

"Define fun." I said to Tharizdun wondering what was going on, or what was going to happen as Tharizdun pulled out a thick coil of rope from one of the many crates near the golden horn. He didn't seem to hear me, or he just didn't care that I said anything, he just grabbed the coil of rope and threw the little red haired girl down onto the crate in front of him. "Hey!" I shouted releasing the arrow and let it fly towards him. The arrow flew though the air before hitting the metal of the horn and bouncing off two inches away from Tharizdun's head. "What are you doing!?" I didn't like where this was going, not one bit.

"This doesn't concern you, leave, leave, leave, leave."

"Help me!" I heard the little girl cry as she began to be tied up by the rope. As she got lifted up, I saw that her kneecaps seemed to be missing. But as I studied her knees, I saw that they weren't missing, they were broken. I gasped at the realization, the pain she must be going though. "He's gonna rape me then kill me!" What!? I felt shock and disbelieve course though my body when I heard those words.

"What!?" I heard Shoney and Arrowe shout behind me. I jumped up in fright from hearing their voices. When did they get there? I felt as if my heart was going to jump out of my chest. And would Tharizdun really do that? He was crazy, I knew that, but would he seriously do that? I didn't have to wonder long as I heard the sound of fabric being ripped apart in front of me. I saw the little girl's shirt get ripped off, followed by her undershirt, then her pants, then the other items until she was completely naked. I felt anger rush into my body as I reached for another arrow in my quiver. No, I wouldn't let him do that, there was such a thing as going too far. I grabbed an arrow, only to feel the side of my body be hit by something hard.

"Hold her down!" I heard Arrowe shout as a pair of arms grabbed my arms while another grabbed my legs.

"Let go of me!" I shouted angrily at the both of them for stopping me from killing that bastard. I heard the little girl scream as Arrowe and Shoney started to haul me away from whatever was happening at the cornucopia.

"You can't kill him," Arrowe told me with pain in his voice "not unless you want Griffin, Lucifer, and Howl to hunt you down." He was right, I knew he was right, those three would kill me if I killed Tharizdun. Those three wouldn't care what he did as long as he killed anyone that wasn't our ally. I tried to shake my way out of their grips, but I couldn't get out as they lead me into the jungle. I felt sick that we were just leaving that girl to her doom, even if she was our enemy.

**District three's Nessa Christine Johnston's POV **

No no no no no! Those were the only thoughts going though my head as Tharizdun ripped my clothes off and exposed my body to the world. I didn't want anything to happen to me between now and death, I wanted to die now. I hoped that the game makers would kill me with a lightning bolt, or that they'd send in mutts to kill me before this monster did anything to me. I wished that they'd do something, anything to stop this. But you don't always get what you want.

As I felt his erection break though me, I felt sick and miserable, not only from what was happening to me right now, but from the thought of how the Capital would allow something like this to happen. And from the thoughts of my mother and father, they were most likely watching this right at this moment. I felt tears run down my cheeks as my district partner did his dirty work on me. What he was doing to me, it hurt, it hurt a lot, and I couldn't help but scream the entire time as my body felt as if it was being ripped in half. I was sick and angry to the core of my body. But the one thing that over came every other feeling inside of me was sadness. So much sadness that I was almost chocking on it.

"Since you're my district partner, I won't let you suffer for too long." Tharizdun said to me, even though his voice contained no kindness and no mercy inside. I didn't think of why he said what he did and did what he did, I was just glad that he had stopped.

I then felt extreme pain as something was sharp was cutting the top of my head. I screamed as loud as my throat would allow me to. The burning pain ran from the right side of my head and steadily made it's way across to my left side. I wanted to stop whatever was happening to my head, but I couldn't move my arms because of these ropes.

My head was still burning when I saw the collector dangle something red and bloody in front of my face. I couldn't focus too well on it because of the pain on and in my head and the tears the blured my vision slightly. But I looked at it for a second and instantly saw what it was. I was horrified to see that it was my hair, my red hair with bloody scalp still attached to it. He scalped me! "Red hair with brown skin isn't natural," I faintly heard him say to me "just thought I'd let you know, know, know, know." I then saw him lean in towards me and felt sharp knives dig into my neck before I felt liquid hot magma course though it. I didn't even need to think about what he had done, I knew already, he had done it to twenty seven other girls before me. And the pain was beyond anything that I had ever felt before.

As my red hot neck began to cool and darkness started to flood my vision, I thought of how I had failed my family. I had failed to come back to them, and I had failed to show my mother and father, that I really was a miracle to them.

A/N: Well, what do you guys think of my horrible rape scene. I'm going to need to do more research on it and get better. Darn it rape fics, do more in first person view. I wrote Life's POV about six different time and I'm still not that satisfied with it.

To MyDarkTribute: When did Alexander say anything to Tharizdun about Nessa?

**Death list **

**18th place: Nessa Christine Johnston. Ripped apart by Tharizdun.**


	23. Nightfall

**Day 2. Late afternoon**

**District six's Rayne Page's POV**

"I said I was sorry." I told my ally Life Lee as we searched one of the many large, ruined buildings in this abandoned city for food, water, and equipment. Life didn't seem to be in a happy mood after I released her from my grip, and that worried me, would she do something to me? When the rats were away from us, I released her, but she looked at me different now, like I was going to kill her without a moments notice. Which I could do if I felt like doing it. It'd be easy, one thrust from my machete and it'd all be over for her. Just like I had done to my district partner. But I wasn't going to do that to her, not when we're allies, and for that, I'd put up with her, even if it pained me to do so. After all, I don't think I'll be able to survive this alone. I could take care of myself, no doubt about that. But what if something happened? What if someone tried to sneak up on me? What if there was an obstacle that needed two people to overcome it? I might need her later to help me. Not that she wasn't helping me now, she was helpful, which I was glad for.

"You held your hand on my mouth until I was nearly dead." Life told me with anger in her voice. I felt a little bad about that, but I had to keep her quiet otherwise those rats would have found us and torn us to pieces. If anything they'd have no problem trammeling us until we were nothing but blood stains on the street, and I didn't want that to happen. If anyone thought they could fight all those red eyed rats and live they were either stupid or suicidal, or both, and I for one wasn't going to die because I thought I could take them on, no, I had ran because I knew that I couldn't fight them all at once. Not many things scare me, after all, my job back in the district was to climb up redwood trees and cut down dry branches or fresh fruit from said tree, and since I was so thin and light I could reach the top of the tree, which not a lot of kids my age could do. The younger kids could reach this, but they were all too scared to go up that high I didn't have time for fear way up there, and whatever fear I had I just shoved it away, unlike those scared little kids who annoyed me because they said they couldn't go that high, I was braver then those scared little snobs and I knew it. That kind of attitude was what gave me the courage to go after small woodland creatures that made their way across my workplace from time to time. When I saw them, and nobody else was looking, I'd go after them and kill them before hiding them in my shirt or a pouch if I had one. That, plus if I could get it passed the peacekeepers. The way my family would act when they found out that I had something extra for them to eat was joy to me. The way that their faces would light up and we'd all be a little less hungry that day, it brought warmth to me.

Anyway, Life didn't seem too happy about me holding her mouth shut. Well soooorrrrryyyy, I didn't know that you'd take it so personally, after all, I was just trying to keep us hidden.

"But I didn't kill you," I told her cutting away a door of a rotten cupboard in this building with my machete. It was a large building, it was tall and wide. One room was only slightly smaller then my tiny ass house, not that I didn't like my tiny ass house, it was home and I liked it, loved it even, it's where I grew up for the last seventeen years of my life. It had good and bad memories in it, but it was still home. "Your still here aren't you." It was a rhetorical question, of course she was here and alive, if I wanted her dead now she'd be dead, simple as that.

"Fine," Life said hitting a glass case with a good sized piece of broken concrete she had found after the rat encounter. It wasn't too long or too thin and could act like a short handed club if needed. The problem with that was that it didn't have very much reach to it. If she could attach something to it, like a strong, thick stick, then it could be many times better in terms of a weapon. If it failed as a weapon or Life found something better, then it could be used as a sharping stone for my machete. Not the best item for that, but still usable, maybe. "Sorry I asked." Ok, better not say anything to her for the next little while, she was still angry at me, obviously, which I couldn't understand why. I couldn't blame her back then, but now. It seemed that she didn't trust me, and that hurt me a little inside.

For the next little while we looked in this building for things. Something, anything. But all we found so far was big balls of dust and empty cupboards. Nothing useful. I wanted to quit for a while now, but Life kept on insisting that we'd find thing if we searched for a little longer. It frustrated me trying to talk Life out of searching this one building for items, I mean, we'd have a better chance of finding things if we went into the jungle and searched there. I mean really, it was a jungle, there had to be some sort of food source or water source there. Even if it was just a berry bush or some condensation running off the trees. But Life here said that it's safer here. Which could also be true. God it was annoying trying to argue with her, I stopped long ago because it was pointless to argue with someone as stubborn as her on something this small. If this could be considered small. Still, she was my ally and I had to keep her at least sort of happy until we part ways.

**District two's Lucifer Despar's POV**

"You know," I said to Griffin and Howl trying to lighten the gloomy mood that surrounded us as we walked back to the cornucopia "that was intense, what do you guys think?" It was intense, I had to run full speed to lose those rats. Those were some nasty mutts if I say so myself. It wasn't fun though. Intense, but not fun.

"You want to know what was also intense?" Howl asked with bitterness in her voice

"What?" I asked. This could be interesting because of her attitude.

"You running away like a coward." Oh, that hurt so much, not.

"I have better plans then fighting some horde of giant rats, I don't know if you knew of my great plan, but my plan was something called," I then added a second of silence to make it sound dramatic before finishing with "staying alive." I mean really, I'd rather live and fight another day then die at the paws or teeth of some rodent mutts for the sake of pride or whatever. When training, my father would sometimes purposely make situations that were impossible for me to fight. In those situations, he told me to run away from my enemies, not fight them. He told me that it was better to live as a coward for an hour then to be dead forever trying to prove how tough you were. I took that advice to heart, and it damn well saved my life. I felt new happiness with my father's lessons back in the district.

On the other hand. I looked at Griffin while thinking of how he had stayed behind to try and defeat the whole swarm of rats that were trying to kill us. He's probably going to die because he refuses to give up and can't accept losing a single battle. The only reason he ran out with us was because Howl told him that if he stayed, he was going to lose the Hunger Games for good. I'm glad that he survived though, he's a valuable ally, we needed his strength.

"If you say so." Howl said like it was some sort of joke. I know so I told myself.

Soon after our little chat we walked out of the jungle's borders and got to the open field of the cornucopia area, and just in time too, it's starting to get cold. I left my coat here because I didn't need it during the blazing hot daytime, it would have just slowed me down and made me sweat more. But now that the day was changing to a freezing cold night, I'd need that coat if I decided to go tribute hunting tonight.

I looked to the golden horn to see Lynsa supposedly talking, but more likely arguing with Arrowe and Shoney. Hmm, interesting, what were they arguing about. I was curious and interested. I ran over to them and asked

"What's going on? Not enough action around here?" It was meant as a joke, but Lynsa didn't seem to take it as one when she turned her head and shot me an icy glare.

"Oh we've had action alright, just not the kind that I want." She said harshly. Well that's a surprise.

"What then?" I asked wondering what was going though her mind.

"This is about Tharizdun," Lynsa told me, which interested me. This had to be good. "Make him leave." I was confused by that, sure he didn't listen sometimes and was kind of mental, but that was no reason to make him leave, he was a valuable ally.

"Why?" I asked. What had he done that was so bad?

"He raped a little girl," Lynsa explained "he raped her before killing her."

So?" I asked. I didn't see any problem with that. I don't see what she's so upset about.

"So?" Lynsa said like she couldn't believe what was coming out of my mouth. "He's inhuman, he should have just killed her, not making her go though that." I let out an irritated sigh at Lynsa before letting out how I felt

"I don't care if he cuts tributes fingers off, tortures them, rapes them, burns them alive then eats their flesh! As long as he kills them!" I wasn't kidding, Tharizdun could do whatever he wants to his victims for all I care, just as long as they aren't us careers and our allies. Too many tributes survived the bloodbath and I only heard two cannons fire since then. Seven dead tributes, Seventeen still alive. Someone had to do something to eliminate their numbers wither it was me, Tharizdun, Griffin, Howl, Arrowe, Lynsa, Shoney, or any of the non-careers out there.

**Day 2. Early night**

**District seven's Sami Lavisa's POV**

It was up to me now, for now at least, I had to guard them from whatever danger popped up out of nowhere and tried to harm us. Tonight, I was going to keep watch for a few hours before letting Aerin take my place. Scary how all that was on my shoulders until then. The very thought made me want to just run up to Aerin right now and tell him that it was his shift already. But that would have been irresponsible of me, even though I felt like doing that out of fear. Looking out at the darkening jungle area, I worried that something would jump out at me at this very moment.

We were lucky that nothing had attacked us in our sleep last night, we were careless, and didn't think too hard on the danger that we were in. Aerin told us that it was too dangerous for all of us to be asleep at the same time, one of us had to stay up and act like a guard. If anything happens, I'll wake them up. Easy. Almost like babysitting my younger siblings Gracie and Jhono. I felt something hard in my chest as I thought of those two. I reached out for the braided bracelet that they had made for me to comfort my thoughts. I needed to win, for them.

The sun had set and it was now dark enough that the flashlight from Aerin's backpack was now useful. But I wasn't going to use it now, it'd draw unwanted attention to our location, and that was something that I didn't want. Even though I had a weapon with me now, a homemade bow that Angel and Aerin helped me build from a strong but flexible tree branch. It took several tries, eleven I think, to get it right. Ninety five percent of the time the branch broke from the tension of the bend. The other five percent was that the branch was too strong to bend. It was frustrating work, but well worth it, because when we finally found the right branch and tied some sturdy vines to it, it turned into a weapon. It wasn't as good as a real bow, but it was good enough to use. And when the three of us came up with the idea of combining Angel's spear heads with thin sticks, we created homemade arrows using thin sticks, spearheads and Aerin's knife to make the arrow nock. When we looked at the final product of our hard work, we all felt proud of ourselves. I felt like crying at that moment. I myself thought that this was the best thing to happen at the moment, I'm so glad that Angel came to me and wanted me to be part of her alliance, I don't know what I would have done without her and Aerin. Probably be lost in this jungle, scared for my life, weapon less, alone. And that seemed a lot scarier then the guard duty that I seemed to be doing now. Again, I was glad that I wasn't alone.

As the last rays of the sunset disappeared from sight and watched the yellow and orange sky turn dark blue and black, I felt the temperature drop. I zipped up my coat and prepared myself for the cold night that was up ahead. Too bad that we didn't have any thicker coats or an extra sleeping bag or something. I couldn't make a fire without it attracting attention, not that we had the means to make a fire without working hard for it anyway. Best thing I could do right now was rub my hands together to keep them warm.

As the night went on I felt the air get chillier. I was glad that there wasn't a breeze around, or that it was raining, that would have really ruined the night for me. But the air around me still gripped me with it's icy hand. It was cold, but not painful, for me at least. Last night, I had seen what it had done to Aerin and Angel, they were shivering so much they seemed to be having violent fits. It looked painful for them, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining. I worried about them when that had happened.

What was the climate like in district eleven? Was it hot and humid? It had to be hotter then district seven otherwise I'd be in the same shape as them, or they'd be in the same shape as me, either way. They seemed to be able to handle themselves during the day. While I needed to remove my jacket and my t-shirt to stop myself from other heating, they could go with full gear on if they choose. Plus, while I was sweating just by being in the sun, they seemed to have hardly any trouble being out in the heat, which seemed to prove my theory that district eleven was a hot district. It made me worry about when it was their time to take watch. Would either of them be able to survive the night without freezing to death? Hopefully. No, they would. Somehow, they would. It now seemed selfish of me to make them suffer so much, they could hardly stand the night air. You know, I might not make them do any night watches until they were better equipped to deal with the night air. I'll deal with the night myself for now, they didn't need to suffer the dread yet.

I looked around the jungle keeping my eyes peeled in case there was something that came for us. More then once did I get scared and thought that something was coming for me. But it was always my imagination playing tricks on me. And every time I recovered from my shock, I felt really stupid for letting my mind wonder to places that it shouldn't. I mentally kicked myself for getting scared so easily. But this was the Hunger Games and anything could happen at any moment, so I wouldn't let my guard down, I just needed to lower my paranoia. I seemed to be jumping at every little sound. Every little sound made my heart jump. If I didn't stop being so scared I was going to have a heart attack, and I didn't want that. So I did what I thought was the only thing to do to calm myself down, get over it and laugh a little. Because when you think about it, it was kind of silly that I was getting scared over everything. Calm down Sami, calm down. Everything's going to be all right.

A moment passed by before the sky lit up with semi-bright light. It was too early for the sun to rise, or was it? It didn't seem like the sun though, it was still cold out and the lighting was the wrong colour. I looked up to see a Capital hovercraft floating in the sky with a hologram displaying the Capital seal before the seal disappeared and was replaced by a little girl with caramel coloured skin and red hair. It was that twelve year old girl from district three. I felt sad for her, she was so young. Then her face disappeared before being replaced by the little boy from district ten. I felt sad for him to, he wasn't much older then her. The picture of the little boy disappeared before the Capital seal was shown again before the lights on the hovercraft went dead and the hovercraft silently flew away. As it was flying away without a single sound, I thought of those two young tributes and couldn't help but feel sorry for them and their families. Those two were so young. Too young to die.

Time ticked by for who knew how long. I don't know how much time ticked by but for all I know, sunrise could be just around the corner, but at the same time I felt as if it may have been only ten minutes. Oh, standing guard was boring and scary at the same time, I didn't know how to feel, board or scared. If there was one thing that I wasn't it was tired. Even though it was dark out, I wasn't tired, at all. Which surprised me, usually at this time I'd be putting my younger siblings to bed before going to sleep myself. But not here. Maybe it was because I felt like I had a task to do, or maybe because I was paranoid. Or maybe it was because I felt that I had to protect Aerin and Angel, they were both younger then me, and they were both different genders. We also had some good times together, just like Gracie and Jhono and I back home. Either way, I was up and running. Oh, I can't wait till sunrise.

***A little later that night***

I needed to go, bad. I didn't want to but my body demanded that I go. I didn't want to travel too far away from my allies, but I didn't want to do it right in front of them, even if there were sleeping. Which you could say was weird because they couldn't see me or anything, but it was just the sense of privacy that made me want to be out of sight for sure.

I grabbed my homemade bow and three homemade arrows along with Aerin's flashlight, I'll use it real quickly just so that I could navigate my way around to the other side of the giant tree in our campsite and do my business without tripping over tree rots or anything else. I'd turn it on, rush to the behind of the tree, then turn it off real quick. I'd turn it on when going back to camp, but that'd also be quick. I don't think it'd be on long enough for someone to see it.

I was worried about leaving the camp, sure their sleeping bags were camouflaged by the underbrush on top of them, but what if someone somehow made it to the camp without me noticing and stepped on them? No, that wouldn't happen, what were the odds that that would happen? No, they'd be fine, I'll just be gone for a minute. Two minutes tops.

With my bow in my left hand, my arrows in my right, and the flashlight in my mouth, I walked away from the camp and made my way around the giant tree while avoiding it's roots and anything else the flashlight's beam picked up.

I made it to the other end of the tree before finding a relatively clear place to do my business. I turned off the flashlight before squatting down, lowering my pants, and reliving myself.

When I was done, I pulled my pants back up before getting back up and turning on the flashlight again. I made my way back to the camp, taking one careful step at a time.

"Hi there." I heard someone whisper behind me. I felt my heart jump against my chest when I heard them say that. I was too scared to scream, or say anything, or do anything besides stand frozen in place for a single second. Then my vision went dark.

A/N: Well, another chapter done. Who do you think got Sami and what do you think will happen to her?

Oh, do you think that the cameras in the Games are always televising their EVERY action? I mean, if your doing bathroom stuff, can you expect privacy or not?

To Luker: sorry about the really late reply. They might have one, who knows. I know how you feel, but there's a reason she's like that.

To Katie: it's the Hunger Games, of course it's going to be a little violent :D Don't worry, there's going to be more of him in this story.


	24. So many cuts

**Day 2. Mid-Night**

**District five's Alexander Natas's POV**

I gave a sigh of pleasure at the current situation I was in right now. At the moment, things were finally going the way I wanted it to go, they were going my way, unlike how they kind of were before.

I got a backpack from the cornucopia and easily caught Valerie soon after, but then she unwillingly escaped from my grasp before I could pay her and her daddy back for all those years of torment they had given me back home. The only good thing she was good for after her death was being used as a shield, and that worked out fine for me. Except her death was too merciful for the likes of her, she hadn't suffered like the rest of us back in the district being the mayor's dumb ass daughter, and she certainly didn't suffer like me, she needed to know what it was like to have someone laugh at you and hurt you in ways you couldn't imagine. I wanted to show her what it was like, even if just a small sample of it, but she died too early for that to happen. I dreaded the moment of realizing she was dead, we could have had so much fun together out here.

I made it safely into the jungle and away from the bloodbath field before examining Valerie's body which contained two small knives stuck into it. One was wedged into the center of her head while another was caught in her right shoulder. Two knives I thought, two knives that had been delivered to me at the price of my prey dying. I didn't know how to feel, I got my favorite weapon, but at the price of not paying that bitch back. But something seemed off about those knives, for one thing, they seemed to be covered in a thin layer of unknown substance, the only reason I saw it was because of the sun shining on it and the unnatural glare the knives gave off when the suns rays hit the metal.

I grabbed the handle of the knife that was deeply wedged into Valerie's stupid head, twisted it, and pulled it out as blood rained down from the blade and slashed on her head. I put the blade below my nose and hoped that the weird glare wasn't what I feared it was. But it was.

The blade of the knife reeked of a foul odor that smelled like a mix of burning food and a dead cat carcase on a hot summer day. It was poisoned! Now I was real pissed with that little girl! Disgusted with the useless weapon I tossed it away into the jungle before checking to see what supplies my backpack contained. After all, poisoned weapons poisoned the food and the victims it cut. I unzipped my backpack and looked inside. It contained a small loaf of bread and a couple of half litter plastic bottles filled with water along with a long coil of rope and two steel cased lighters. Damn it! No weapons! I cursed the little district two girl even more for those poisoned knives and killing Valerie before I zipped up my backpack and started making my way though the jungle. God was cruel, he made sure that I didn't get a weapon and taunted me with the poisoned knives. Now I was in the Games with no weapons while having failed to get some revenge on my district.

As I exploded, I realized that the jungle wasn't all that bad, it was thick with vines, underbrush and smooth, tall trees and was broiling hot, but it had animals that I could hunt, if I knew how to do a proper trap or had a weapon. Which I didn't. I could try to hand snare an animal by placing a rope coil in the middle of where ever and wait for an animal to step into the circle before pulling it, but I didn't like my odds of catching an animal like that. And the jungle was also a potential place for good hiding spots if found. After all, how easy would it be to spot a person covered in jungle foliage in a jungle?

I soon found a rock that was pointed on one end and used it as a crude homemade knife and hammer before thinking of making a crude spear made of a long, thin stick with a sharpened end on it. But I soon, unfortunately discovered, the rock hardly got used for anything, and the spear that I threw at animals didn't hit it's target once, and even worse the tip had to be sharpened after every second throw. It was getting frustrating having to meet failure at every turn.

Then when it was getting dark out and the temperature started to go down, I found a hut in the middle of this jungle. I was in luck, I didn't have to spend the night outside! And even better, when I got into the hut, there was food and water inside as well as medicine! Oh yeah, this almost made up for the crap afternoon that I had had.

And now, here we were, here in this good sized hut that sheltered me from the cold nights and offered me food, water and medicine.

I looked over at my visitor, who was still knocked out from our little encounter a little while ago. I was looking for small animal nests to either kill the parents or babies, or both, for food, but instead, I saw something interesting. I saw a bright beam of light coming from the direction I was walking towards, and it was close to. I wondered what it was, so I decided to go investigate. But I soon lost the exact location of where the beam of light came from when it suddenly disappeared, so I went to the approximate area on where I think it had been. I heard some noises in front of me before seeing the light go back on again about thirty feet in front of me. And it turned out to be the orange haired girl from district seven holding a flashlight, and conveniently, all alone. I then took the chance to get up behind her quickly, but quietly. I was quiet enough to sneak up on her, but quick enough to catch up to her. I tailed her while getting closer and closer, until I was within striking distance from her. I then said 'Hi there' to her before she stopped dead in her tracks. This was a wonderful opportunity, and I used the opportunity to grab her head from behind, and slam it against the tree to our left with a satisfying thunk from her. I then picked her and her weapons up before taking her to my hut and searching her backpack to see what she had besides her homemade bow, three homemade arrows and flashlight. Nothing. She had nothing in her backpack. Ah well, I was just glad that I found her. And alone at that.

While she was still knocked out, I threw a rope over the top wooden beam of the hut and used that rope to hang her upside down by her ankles. I then tied her hands and legs together with some of the extra rope, and to make extra sure that she wasn't going to escape, I stabbed one arrow through both her wrists and both her legs skewering them together. She wasn't going to escape easily, or painlessly. Though, it would be fun to see her try, but it'd be a shame if she somehow untied her legs and fell head first on the floor and broke her neck.

I sat on a wooden chair near the warm fireplace that currently housed a burning pile of wood that radiated its fiery colours into the lightless hut while picking the dirt under my nails with the remaining homemade arrow that girl had on her. I was board, and I was waiting for her to wake up so we could begin our fun. She wasn't waking up fast enough though, I had already picked out all the dirt under eight of my fingernails using one of the homemade arrows, and I didn't want to think of what to do if she didn't wake up soon. I mean, I could try and wake her up by giving her a kick in the face, but that didn't always work with unconscious people, they could just stay unconscious until their minds woke up or something or other.

I looked up as I heard a soft moan in the room, and it seemed to came from the orange hair girl that was hanging in the middle of the room. Was she waking up? I hoped so, I didn't want it to be my imagination. I stood up before placing the homemade arrow on the floor below me and walked over to her and faced the front of her body before crouching down and seeing if her eyes were opening. Another soft moan escaped her almost closed mouth, but her eyes weren't opening yet. Yes! At last, she was waking up.

"Hey." I said jabbing my left index finger into her left eye. I was usually patient with things, but now wasn't one of those times, I wanted to get started right away, my body almost seemed to be demanding it. She gave out a sharp shriek before her eyes shot open. A rush of excitement coursed though my body as her eyes looked into mine. At first her eyes showed confusion, then worry, then fear. Her eyes darted around the room as the fear in her eyes intensified. "Hi there." I said to her before she started to scream loudly. Her whole body began to shake as if she was trying to escape the ropes and the arrows that bound her limbs together.

Pain then appeared on her face as she, I guess, realized that something sharp was in her skin. Her face winced as her eyes closed from the pain the arrows were giving. I felt myself smile at her pain and her fear. "Scream all you want," I told her as I started to stand up "nobody's going to hear you."

We were in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by trees, vines, huge leaves and who knows what else. Plus, everyone was asleep right now, they wouldn't hear her even if she shouted her lungs out all night. I stood up completely before walking over to my table full of supplies that contained food, water, medicine, and my crude weapons.

When I reached the table I grabbed the homemade bow that I had stolen from her with my left hand. "This is a good bow for something that's homemade," I commented to her as she continued to scream for help, but her screams were getting quieter for whatever reason they were. "Wonder how hard it was for you to find the right branch and how hard it was to string the line on." It wasn't a question. I looked at her body to see that it had swung a little bit around, she was no longer facing me, she was facing a wall. No matter, this could still be done which ever way she was facing. As long as she could see what I was doing.

I walked over to her and held the bow in front of her face to show her what I had in my hand. "You must be very proud of this," I told her before I made my free hand grab the other side of the bow and started to bend the bow. "It must have been quite an achievement." I bent it until it was near it's breaking point, I felt that the bow was ready break, then bent it some more. A loud snap rang though out the room as the bow snapped in half from the center before I saw the hurt in her eyes, and it made me happy. She must have worked very hard on this bow, and here, I broke it in less then a minute. "Sorry babe," I told her not really feeling sorry for her, at all "accidents happen." I then tossed the broken bow across the room before studying her body. Her clothes had been torn off so that I could examine her. It wasn't because I was attracted to her or anything, not in the least. I tore off her clothes so that I could picture how to cut her as well as see the results of my art without barriers. She had pale skin with not a scar on her entire body, but that was going to change soon. Real soon. My excitement rose just thinking about what she'd look like after I was done with her.

"My clothes?" She asked so quietly I almost missed her saying anything. From what I could hear, it sounded like she wasn't to cry. Good, I wanted the misery.

"In the fire." I answered before turning her around to examine her back. As I was turning her, I noticed something around one of her thin arms. I looked closer to see that it was a braided bracelet with three strings attached to it. Three strings, three colours. One black. One white. One tanned. "That's a nice bracelet you have," I told her before removing it from her arm "that you token?" She didn't answer, but I didn't need her to, it was obvious that it was her token. She struggled a bit to feebly try and get it back. She only fought for maybe half a second before the arrows moved painfully in her skin and she gave up. "Three strings three different colours, what do they represent?" I turned her body around slightly so that I could crouch down and look straight in her eyes. "Mom, dad, you. Are those the strings?" I knew that these strings represented something or someone to her, I just needed to find out who or what.

She didn't say anything, but when I said mom, her eyes went showed some sadness in them. Something happened to her mom, maybe she was dead or something. "Dad, you, sibling?" No answer, but I thought I saw something when I said sibling. I might as well try "You and two siblings?" A little flicker went though her eyes when I said her and siblings. Yes! I was on the right track. "Younger?" I asked. Tears seemed to build up in her eyes. Not enough for her to cry, but enough to show that she wanted to. I hit dead on. She had younger siblings, and I was going to make the most of this knowledge.

I then got an idea, a really good idea. "They must have worked hard to make this," I said to her "your younger siblings." I stood up and held her token out in front of her. I was only holding it by two fingers, my thumb and my index finger. "It'd be a real shame if something happened to this token of yours." I told her as I pulled out my steel cased lighter, flicked the top open, and ignited the flame that shot upwards from the case. I saw her reaction of fear and anger as the lighter flame went towards her flammable token.

"Don't." I heard her say quietly.

"Don't?" I asked her feeling my plan already working. "Don't you say?" I saw shake her head to acknowledge my question. I closed the top of the lighter putting out the flame before saying "I know you've been hanging around those two district eleven tributes, where are they?" She didn't answer. Geez, what quiet girl. "Hay!" I shouted at her "are you afraid of talking or what!? Where are your allies!? Tell me or I'll tell to burn your token!" I then flicked open the case of the lighter again making the sound of it opening ring though the hut. "If you tell me where they are I won't burn this token of yours."

"Don't know." I heard her say. Not the answer I wanted.

"Sure you don't." I said making the flame ignite again and bringing it close to the bracelet

"I don't know!" She cried out as the tip of the flame touched the bracelet. She seemed upset, and defeated. Maybe she really didn't know. As if though. I didn't believe her, but that didn't matter right now, I'd find them later. They were of secondary concern, and it was pretty easy for me to guess where they were also, she couldn't have strayed too far away from them. So I wasn't thinking too hard on where to find them.

"Alright then," I told her like I believed her, even though I didn't. "Your siblings, say you hate them." The look on her face when I said that, the way her eyes shot up and her mouth hung open, priceless. I waited a moment before saying again "tell you siblings you hate them." She shook her head not wanting to say it. I didn't mind, after all, where would the fun be if she just did everything I asked willingly? "Say you hate your brother," I commanded her "say: I hate my brother." Again she shook her head. She was obviously horrified but just the thought. That was a good thing, for me.

I sighed before telling her in what I hoped was a harsh voice "look, unless you want this token that you so fondly are attached to to spontaneously combust, I suggest you do what I say." And to show that I meant business, I let one of the strings, the white one, catch on fire. As the fire started to consume the string, district seven girl started screaming

"No! No! No!" I blew out the flame before the string was almost halfway burnt. Smoke raised up from the blackened end of the string as the girl continued screaming almost comically.

"Now say you hate your siblings," I told her "go on, say it." Then I heard it, she whispered softly

"I hate my siblings." It was horrible, it was too quiet. I could hear it, but it was too quiet.

"What was that?" I asked "I couldn't hear you over the sound of a bracelet about to be caught on fire." I then raised the lighter flame before I heard her say a little louder

"I hate my siblings." Still not good enough, though I could hear the pain in her voice, it still wasn't good enough. I wanted her siblings back in her district hear her say it.

"Louder!" I commanded her as the flame slowly inched its way towards the bracelet "Louder so that people can actually hear it!"

"I hate my siblings!" I heard her unexpectedly shout. Oh my god that felt good. The pain in her voice, it sounded a lot like betrayal, and that itself was wonderful. But there was also misery and defeat in her voice as tears rolled up her head. But once wasn't enough. Her home district siblings probably didn't believe what she said, or even heard it.

"Say it again," I ordered her "and say it loud."

"I hate my siblings." She cried, tears freely flowing from her eyes, the pained look on her face unmistakeable. She was in a lot of emotional pain right now and I loved it.

"Say you hate your brother." I commanded her. I don't know what kind of siblings she had, so I was just going to make her say each gender. I could tell she didn't want to, that it hurt her to say it, but she said it anyway

"I hate my brother."

"Say you hate your sister." I ordered her feeling the excitement in my rise as I ordered this helpless girl do things against her will. Just like how my life was, doing things that I didn't want to do, like sit in a cage to entertain others.

"I hate my sister." She sadly said. I could feel myself smiling from her misery. From this point of view, I could almost see why the people in my district did it, it was a wonderful feel to know that you were in charge, that you were higher up then them. It was intoxicating. And seeing her cry just made it better.

"Say you want them dead."

"I want them dead." She cried. God this was good.

"You hear that little orange carrot tops from seven!?" I shouted while laughing knowing that The Capital had cameras around here somewhere, our every action and every word was being broadcast live throughout Panem, so of course, it'd be broadcasting to her home district where her siblings were. "Your sis hates your sticking little guts! She admitted it herself! How could you love such a little dirtbag of a sister!?" It didn't really matter if she meant it or not, it was just the matter of saying it that probably hurt them. Hearing their sister saying that she hatted them, wonder how they feel now. Betrayed, maybe. Sad, maybe. Angry, maybe. But that was for them to feel and not me.

I closed the lighter case and extinguished the flame before placing the lighter back into my pants pocket. This girl was crying loudly, it really did pain her to say all that, but that's what made it so good to me, in fact, she was a better victim then Valerie would have been, though I was still mad that Valerie died before I could do anything to her.

I turned away from the crying girl before walking over to the fireplace and looked at the fiery colours consisting of yellow, orange, and red flames that burned the brown wood and green leaves around it. At this moment, I imagined district five being burned to the ground like those brown pieces of sticks while the people were the faster, burning green leaves. Yes, that was something to think about. Everyone that had caused me pain and took pleasure in doing so, I'd burn them all in the district and take pleasure watching it.

I looked at the fire, then looked at district seven's token. I then looked back at her and smiled. I know I told her that unless she wants this token to burned she'd do as I told her, but then again, I'm someone that wants to see people suffer. "Hey seven." I said to her. I saw her eyes look up at me as I raised my arm up over the fire. I watched her eyes go towards the bracelet that I was holding in my fist. I took in a slight breath as I prepared to hear her screams again. I then let go of the bracelet, and let it fall into the fire.

I heard the bracelet hit the pile of burning logs and imagined the fire licking the bracelet before they rapidly consuming it with their fiery mouths.

"Noooo!" I heard district seven scream as I took pleasure in seeing her watch her precious token get burned to ash. Soon she was crying again, taking in big sobs while giant tears rolled up her face even more. This was so much fun. Her sobs were music to my ears, and I took it all in while feeling all the more powerful.

But enough with this, the main attraction was about to begin, and I was the star of it, or one of the stars, the girl was going to be in it as well, but I'd be doing most of the work. I walked over to the side of the chair and picked up the arrow that I placed on the ground. I then turned back towards the orange haired girl and shivered with delight with the very thought of what I was going to do to her now.

"Hey girl," I said to her as I slowly approached her while showing off the arrow in plain sight and waving it around playfully. "Now that we've got to know each other a little better, I say we move this relationship to the next level, physical." I could see the terror in her eyes as I approached her. She tried to escape again, but the ropes and arrows kept her in place. She was like a trapped animal heading towards it's doom, it knew it was coming, but couldn't do anything to stop it.

I walked up to her body and pressed the steel tip of the arrow onto her pale stomach and whispered to her "don't worry, I'll make you forget all about your token." I then dragged the steel tip across her stomach and listened to her cry out in pain while watching a thick trickle of crimson red run down her stomach wound and towards her chest. Oh, that felt good, amazing even. And I was going to keep doing this until she looked like a piece of macabre art.

***Later that night***

Three hundred twenty five. Three hundred twenty six. Three hundred twenty seven. That was the number of cuts I had given her using this homemade arrow. Cuts that were deep enough to cause pain and bleeding, but shallow enough that she wouldn't bleed to death until hours later. Her screaming got louder and courser with each cut while fueling my happiness and desire to continue. I never knew causing so much pain to someone could feel so good. My body was giving off a delightful shiver while feeling warm inside.

I stepped back to see what I had done to my sketch board. What had I created? Thick streaks of crimson bleed out from cut wounds that weren't thick, but weren't exactly thin either while thickly staining pale skin. Pale skin, it made the blood look pretty. And most of her body had at least some red on it, even her hair had some thin red streaks mixed in with orange. I gave a whistle of appreciation, I liked the way this was going.

"You look good." I told her. She was on her way to becoming a masterpiece of art.

"Please." She whispered faintly. I knew what she wanted, but she wasn't getting it, not till I said so.

"No can do girl," I told her stepping forward to give her another cut to the chest "not until I finish."

***Much later that night***

I gave that girl so many cuts that I lost count. If I had to guess, I'd say I cut her around at least a thousand times or so. Her whole body was covered with cuts while masked in crimson red blood. Her orange hair had also changed colour, it was darker now. Her eyes were red from crying while her throat was raw from screaming for who knows how long, but even so, she still gave out the occasional sad sob. Blood was dripping down from her body and landing on the small red circle below her.

This was so wonderful, I actually managed to do something like this, not just imagine it. It was so much better then the little injuries that I occasionally gave back in the district. I always wanted to do more, and here, I could do more, without anyone stopping me.

I looked at my blood stained hands and thought of the blood that I spilled and how it was being out of a cage. In this anarchy of the Hunger Games, I could do, whatever the hell I wanted to do to my victims. And nobody from the top would try and stop me. There were no peacekeepers with their guns telling me that they'd put me down. No mayor to threaten me if I did anything to hurt the people. No warden to put me in a cage. And no overwhelming numbers to guard my victim from me.

I looked back to the district seven girl, and thought that her blood stained, cut up body, was a piece of art. An art piece that I created. Every cut, every sob, every piece of her misery, was caused by me while I enjoyed it.

But there was still one last thing to do to her, one last thing, then I'd let her go. I turned away from the girl and walked over to the fireplace which still had some burning logs left inside. It wasn't going as strong as it was before, but it was still keeping the inside of the hut warm. I looked inside the fireplace for a log that was burning on one end but wasn't burning or burning too badly on the other end. There was one in the front right corner, thank god, I didn't want to waste time making one. I picked up the non-burning side of the log before lifting it up and taking it over to the district seven girl. The end I was holding felt a little hot, but I could handle it, it's not like it was burning too hot. When I got close enough to her, I told her what I was going to do "I can't have you telling your allies where I am, or having you guide them to me. So, I'm going to have to blind you and make sure that your mouth stays shut." And with that, I placed the red hot end of the log onto her right eye, cauterizing it shut. She wailed in pain with her raw throat as I rolled the burning log across her eyes while taking in the sizzling sound and slight smell of burning flesh.

I removed the burning log from her eyes before I crouched down and grabbed her mouth with my free hand before touching the edge of her mouth with the burning log and cauterizing it shut. Her screams got quieter and quieter as her lips infused with each other as I rolled the log across them until they were one. Her screams were muffled, but not non-existent, but it would be hard to hear unless you were standing ten feet away from her, and nobody would get that close to her until I was done with her and gone.

"Thank you," I said to her meaning every word in this sentence "for this wonderful experience."

A/N: Well, hope you all enjoyed this. Sorry if some/all of you are mad because Alex's scene is long.

You know what Cato should have done when he had Peeta in a headlock? Push him onto Katniss where they'd both fall off the cornucopia and get eaten by mutts. Well, that's one way The Hunger Games could have ended, what other ways do you guys think the games could have ended?


	25. I couldn't save them

**Day 3. Early morning **

**District eleven's Aerin Sevani's POV**

It shouldn't have been like this, it couldn't be like this, it just...couldn't. But here I was, watching the horrific scene unfold in front of my eyes. I was near the end of a field, a large harvest field filled with acres and acres of vegetables ready to be picked from the ground, if they were for the compost. The vegetables were rotten, split open, the guts of squash, tomatoes, and others were laying on the baking hot ground while the flies and ants swarmed over them to try and get the meal they wanted. The flies and ants covered them so finely that it was a field of moving black insects, as the field was almost nothing but rotten vegetables left outside for too long without the care they needed. Why didn't someone pick them up? It was good food. Or at least, it was good food, it sure didn't look and smell like it anymore. One or two rotten vegetables, I could see if they missed that, but an entire field? I could not believe that someone had just abandoned this field for the ants and flies to prey on. I just couldn't see it. What had happened?

As I looked closer to see what was up, I noticed that there were some familiar features to this field. Believe it or not, not all fields are the same, there are little differences that normal people might not notice, like some of the very rare Capital inspectors, but I've been working on harvest fields all my life and could notice those differences. This field was rough around the edges and had a slight elevation on the ends of the field. Nothing to majorly noticeable, but different neither the less.

Then it struck me, this was the field near my home. Panic shot though me like a bullet when I realized that my house was right behind me. I turned around to see a row of shanty houses crudely made from the materials that had been rustled up to build them. Mud, clay, wood, stone, brick and maybe some tin if you were lucky. Other materials might be used, but those were the common home building materials in the district, but the houses were mostly made from the first two items. Each house looked relatively the same with little to no changes between neighbors. This was my part of town, where the lowest of the low live, not that the great majority of the district looked much different. Only the higher ups lived more comfortably with properly built homes.

Feeling the need to find out what happened, I looked around to see if anyone was outside to tell me what was going on. Did we have a bad crop season? Did we have a boom of bugs get born? What was it?

I scanned the area for people, but there was nobody here, which was extremely odd, because normally there were thousands, tens of thousands of people ranging from children to the elderly outside working in these fields. But there was nobody here now, all there was was the sound of the wind blowing against me while flies buzzed around looking for a free spot to get their meal at. It was scary.

That's when I saw that all the fields were like that, all swarmed with small, black creatures that ate everything in sight. It absolutely terrified me to see these fields like this, rotten with time and swarmed with ants and flies, with no people as well. I felt my body tense up as I looked around the rest of the district to see black crows feasting off the rotten fruit that fell on the ground, fell on the tops of homes, the ones that were still trapped in trees, they ate everything with greed, and they had gotten bigger as well. If I remembered correctly, we learned at school that the average adult crow weights around sixteen ounces, they seemed to have gained about three ounces by feasting on the dead fruit. They had gotten ginormous.

This really worried me, there were also thousands of kids and thin adults picking the fruit from stray trees and the orchards during the day, and it wasn't yet sundown. Yet, where were they? District Eleven wasn't a ghost town, far from it, but right now, that's what it was, a ghost town. It seemed that everyone and everything except the ants, flies, and crows had ceased to exist. Even the mocking jays were had abandoned the district. It's not like they all died.

My family! My mom and dad! My brothers and sisters! What happened to them!? Where were they? What had happened to them? I had to find them! I felt a lump in my throat thinking about their well being in the district's current state.

I tore my eyes away from the trees full of dead fruit and faced the line of shanty houses and ran towards the house that was most familiar, mine. If they weren't there, I'd look all over the district for them.

It wasn't a far run, but every step seemed to take a lifetime to achieve. By the time I reached my front door I felt as if a million years had passed. I reached the ratty door that was basically made of a mixture of wood and clay and opened it as quickly as I could, hoping to see someone, anyone in there.

When I opened the door, I saw what I wanted to see. Inside was my entire family, and I felt myself get filled with relief. They were safe, they were alive. Thank god! Thank god!

I started to run up to them ready to have them back close to me, but then I heard the deadly sound of a gun chambering a bullet, a sound that I had heard many times in my life.

"Not. Another. Fucking. Step." A deep, mean voice commanded me with a deadly, intimidating growl. I stopped before he even said his first word, the sound of the gun was what made me stop in my tracks.

I knew that there were only two types of people in this district that carried guns. Peacekeepers and Capital visitors. Nobody else was even close to allowed to hold a gun, not even the mayor, which was kind of odd because he was the mayor. And while our farming tools were also weapons, they were nowhere as powerful as a speeding bullet fired from a high powered gun.

I was happy at first, my family was still alive, and peacekeepers were here during this crises, but fear returned to my body as I saw the seven peacekeepers inside my house point the barrels of their guns at my family's heads. The fear in my family's eyes was unmistakable, their heads looking down on the floor fearing for their lives while on their hands and knees. I saw my two youngest siblings, including six year old Cassie, shivering from fear it was so great.

No! No it couldn't be!

"Goodbye Aerin." The oldest, most battle hardened, scar faced peacekeeper said to me with a sadistic smile before the sound of thunder erupted in the house.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I shouted hearing the thundering sound of the bullet puncturing through my family's heads, only to find myself in an enclosed space of fabric. No! I was trapped! The peacekeepers had stuffed me into a bag and were taking me to the town square! I had to help my family! I couldn't leave them!

I began to throw wild punches and kicks towards anyone outside of this fabric, that was surprisingly soft, and hoped that it would make the peacekeepers drop the bag so I could at least die with my family near me.

But I was hitting nothing but air, I couldn't hit them.

"Aerin!" I heard a female's voice shout. Who was that!? Probably a peacekeeper going to tell me to shut up before hitting me with their baton. I braced myself for impact before I heard something above me unzip, and that's when I got a plan, I was going to get around that peacekeeper and get to my family. I clenched my right hand into a fist and felt both scared and prepared at the same time. I was scared that I was going to die, but I was prepared to face whatever was out there.

The top of the bag was unzipped before a young female poked her head into the direction of my fist. My fist smashed into her nose before I heard her fall to the ground with a hard thud. I took the chance to get out before the remaining peacekeepers closed the bag and kept me in there. I grabbed the edges of the bag and leaped out of the bag, only be see a jungle around me.

"What the-" I whispered to myself in surprise before trying to recount what happened between the sound of a gunshot going off in my house, to coming into a jungle. I looked around the area confused of the situation, but then I looked down towards the moaning peacekeeper, to see that it wasn't a peacekeeper, it was Angel, Angel lying on the ground moaning while cupping a bloody nose. It shocked me to see her here, of all places. What was she doing here? Was this a trick by the peacekeepers?

That's when I remembered, The Hunger Games. I had been reaped, she had been reaped. The chariot. The interviews. Oh god, I was so stupid, stupid and mean. I had hit her, and she hadn't done anything to me, had she? No, she couldn't have, she wouldn't. I looked at the girl that was my ally in the Games and instantly felt sorry as well as stupid and mean. I also felt like a bully.

I ran up to her before I kneeling down beside her and apologizing to her "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it's just that, I thought my family was getting executed and-"

"It's alright." I heard her say weakly. I looked up to see her lay her head down before breathing out a heavy breath before closing her eyes.

Oh shit! I think that punch might have made some of the bones in her nose go into her head! Wait, was I strong enough to do that? I hoped not. I didn't want to kill her. I didn't want to kill my district partner and ally.

"Hey!" I shouted to her before grabbing her shoulders and shaking her around "don't die on me!" Why me? Why had I done this to her? Suddenly her eyes shot open and she glared at me with anger on her face

"Jeez!" She shouted obviously annoyed at me "I'm not dying. I'm just, relived that you've calmed down from, whatever you were having." A nightmare, but she didn't need to know that. She worried about me when I was still half asleep, there was no need to worry her more. After all, it wasn't real, it was a dream. Thank god for that. "Who knew that a cannon firing would make you so violent?" Angel asked to what seemed like nobody in particular, but there was something in that sentence the bugged me, there was something off about this situation. Something was missing, but what?

"A cannon firing?" I asked hopping to get an answer, or least a hint, to my mental question "who's cannon?"

"I don't know," Angel answered rather calmly "but it'll be one less tribute for us to face later." There it was again. I felt something prick into my brain because that question. Something was missing, but what? Allies. Angel and I. Cannon. Us. Us. US! It hit me like a like rock, there was somebody missing.

Sami!" I shouted as I shot up to my feet remembering our other ally. I had completely, utterly, disrespectfully, and horribly, forgot about her until now. I was so stupid! How could I forget about her!? And why hadn't she woken me up for my night shift!? No! No! It couldn't be. The bullet...I mean, the cannon that woke me up, it couldn't have been Sami's. Could it? I looked down at Angel who was looking up at me in surprise "did any other cannons fire earlier today?"

"No," Angel told me "why?" Ah no. No. No. No! It couldn't be Sami's cannon. If it was, how could we have not heard her fighting? Was she attacked last night? I don't think so, then her cannon wouldn't have fired now in the morning. Unless she fell asleep and someone dragged her off someplace and killed her just now.

"Have you seen Sami anywhere?" I asked Angel hoping that she saw Sami somewhere and she was just taking a rest or something, but the look in Angel's eyes seemed to tell me different.

"No," she said looking confused "I haven't seen her." It was when she finished her sentence that she realized the situation. I didn't see her full reaction, but her eyes had gone wide when I turned away from her and started to look around the camp looking for our District Seven ally.

It couldn't have been her that was killed, I mean, who waits till night to hunt tributes? Ok, stupid question, lots of tributes, but still, we should have heard something. We were supposed to protect each other, but I had obviously failed at that. No, don't look at it that way Aerin, she could still be alive. Yeah, she's alive, she'd just, out looking for food. Yeah, that's it. She's looking for food.

The more I searched the more concerned I became of Sami's well being, she wasn't in plain sight of the camp. Questions flooded my mind like an overflowing well. Why hadn't she woken me up last night? Where was she now? Was she dead? What was she thinking? Why did she think of staying up all night? Wait, maybe she was killed last night. Ah...I don't know. All I know right now was that I had to find her.

She wasn't in the main part of the camp, so I'd need to search the outer area, she couldn't have gone far, she knew it was dangerous out there with the other tributes, the careers, and the mutts. Maybe there was a big source of food near here.

"Angel!" I shouted wanting Angel to know my plan.

"Yeah?" She shouted back not too far away. I turned towards her and said

"Let's split up and look for Sami, she couldn't have gone too far, she has to be around here somewhere. Don't go too far, stay within range of the camp. Don't wonder in the jungle." I didn't want her to go too far in the jungle just in case something happened to her. "You look in this area," I told her waving my hand in a semi-circle around the camp "I'll look behind the giant tree." I didn't waste any time after that, I ran to the edge of the tree and started to go around it, I just hoped that Angel listened to my instructions and didn't wonder too far into the jungle looking for Sami. If Sami wasn't in the immediate area, then we'll search for her in the jungle together. The best of the worst hopefully was that she comes back when we're gone and she stays in the camp until we get back. The best of the best was that we found her now. The worst of the worst, I didn't even want to think about that.

I walked though the tree roots and the underbrush that slowed my travel to the other side of the tree. I wanted to get there as fast as possible, every second added danger to her life.

I got to the other side of the tree and didn't see anything. Just bunch of jungle stuff. I climbed over some more roots to see a relatively clear area ahead of me, and in the relatively clear area, I saw something. I looked at it and saw that it was a dark red coloured thing the size of a person. It had some black ants crawling on it's body, or shell, or whatever it was. What was it? It looked familiar, it was kind of like something back home, but what?

Curiously, I walked to up it to see what it was. As I got closer to it the smell coming from it got stronger, it smelled bad, like something rotten. I got up close to it, crouched down, and immediately regretted it. I saw that the dark red colour was dried blood, and there were cut marks all over the bloody flesh of a person which some of the ants went into. There were home made arrows skewered though the wrists and legs keeping the body in a captured position. Oh no. I touched the body, which was still kind of warm, and rolled it so that it's back was to the ground. I needed to know if this was Sami or not, I didn't want it to be her, but the figure of the body seemed so much like her. The back touch the ground before I looked at the front of the body. I looked at the face and in horror, saw that the eyes and mouth had been burned badly. In fact, there were no eyes and mouth on the body, only ugly burns where those eyes and that mouth were supposed to be.

I inspected some more, and even though she was unrecognizable with the hundreds, perhaps thousands of cuts on her body, burned eyes, burned mouth, dirty and blood caked hair with black ants crawling on her, I knew that this was Sami, there was no doubt in my mind that this was her.

I felt pain in my chest looking at her present state, she looked like she had been tortured with so many cuts to her body. It reminded me of home, and in a bad way.

The scar above my left eye began to ache as I thought of the hundreds of cuts that Sami had to endure. Being tortured by those cuts, then dying alone out in the open. She was so close to us to. If we had just looked around the tree from our camp, we would have found her. I was angry at myself for not protecting her like I should have, she was so close to us, so close to the camp, and we didn't do anything. Just like back in the district when I got this damned scar.

There were, I realized, a lot of connections between Sami and that guy that accidentally cut me with his scythe during harvest season a few years ago.

Oater was his name, he was twenty six if I remember correctly, and like a majority of District Eleven males and females that worked on the fields, he was strong from working that kind of work everyday for the majority of his life. Him and I got along nicely, just like everyone else around our work area.

How he gave me the scar was a simple mistake, there were a batch of corn that was thicker then normal, so of course he had to swing harder to slice through the grain, but I foolishly ran in front of the scythe's path and got cut. The pain was sudden and intense. Now knowing how hard and fast he had swung the blade, I'm really lucky to only had a scar. I could still remember the pain that was brought upon me when his scythe sliced though my skin, but it was nothing like what he was going to get.

The intense pain only lasted about thirty seconds, or so I was told, but the rest of the time until it healed was a massive pain. It was when the intense pain wore off that I saw four peacekeepers in their dusty white uniforms drag Oater away from the corn field. Even through my pain, I knew what they were going to do, they were going to whip him. Whipping isn't uncommon in the district, hell, executions weren't uncommon either, I had seen both of them growing up, and more. At first it scared and saddened me to see those people get punished for whatever they had done, but it was the way of life in District Eleven, you break the rules you get punished, I can understand that. But what I didn't understand was, why did some of the peacekeepers have to be so torturous sometimes? But again, that was a way of life here, and I didn't think too hard about it, after all, until Sami told us a little about her home district, I thought that all the districts had the same, sadistic peacekeepers that thrived on the pain of the common people.

Through out the years, seeing people getting whipped and executed and tortured got easier, but it was never easy to watch. You were used to it, but you didn't like it. Fear ran deep in the district by there cruel punishments, and I couldn't blame them, I was deathly scared of the peacekeepers and their whips and guns and dark imaginations.

They dragged Oater fifty feet before they forced him to his knees with a cruel kick before tying him up to a scarecrow in the middle of the field, one of many in the field. Oater's back was facing the head peacekeeper's front as he uncoiled his whip with a deadly, scary, intimidating crack that rang trough the field and chilled me to the bone, even though it was the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the summer.

That's when the second in commanded peacekeeper ripped the back of Oater's shirt, to present a clear target for his superior.

I looked around to see the other farmers reactions. Some were looking away, working like nothing was happening. I couldn't blame them, the peacekeepers might have punished them for not working. Others were watching the punishment happening with grim faces. They didn't like it as much as I did, but there was nothing they could do about it, you try to be a hero and you get punished.

Blood bleed into my left eye as I watched the head peacekeeper raise his whip and swiftly bring it down with a sharp crack. The sound rang though the field as the whip cut across human flesh and a sharp scream of pain escaped Oater's mouth. I shot up without meaning to, and if two field workers hadn't have grabbed me, I might have been died then and there.

It was painful for me to watch Oater get whipped like that, the minimal punishment was seventy whips to the back, and each lash that cut him was at least ten times as long and at least three times as wide as the single cut I received, and he was going to get at least seventy of them. Blood splashed around on the ground and nearby vegetables with each whip lash as Oater's cries of pain became more and more painful and weak.

By the time thirty lashes came, his back was already looking like a piece of badly butchered, bloody meat, and he began to pass out, I could see it in his slouching body.

Passing out from pain would be a blessing, but here in District Eleven, you don't get even that. The peacekeepers saw that he was passing out, so one of them grabbed a needle filled with clear liquid from one of their inside breast pockets, removed the plastic covering the needle, jabbed it into Oater's neck, and injected him with whatever was inside of it. I didn't know what it was, but I knew what it did, it kept people from passing out.

Oater's body began to wake up before the peacekeepers resumed their torture. His screams of pain were fresh with new energy, it was like he was never going to pass out. I wanted to go up to the peacekeepers and tell them that it was my fault, that I ran into the scythe's path, but the two workers holding me didn't allow me to move, they also didn't allow me to speak up.

His punishment continued, sixty lashes, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred. One hundred lashes before they considered it good. By then, Oater's back was almost nonexistent, I could see the whites of bones, and I think I might have seen about five inches of his spine through the ripped flesh, muscle, and blood.

As soon as the two farmers who were keeping me in check released me, I ran over to Oater to get him to the doctor, but the peacekeepers stopped me, they blocked my path to him, and the sadistic look in their eyes told that they weren't done with him yet. That scared me, it worried me. Oater wasn't a friend, but we were close co-workers, just like all my other co-workers, we took care of each other.

The head peacekeeper, a tall, densely muscled, battle hardened, scar faced, sadistic man who ran the peacekeepers, blocked my path while still holding onto his bloody whip before declaring

"Nobody touch the guilty man! His punishment is still ongoing!"

What!? Hadn't he gone through enough!? Apparently not to them. "The defendant has harmed a fellow worker during harvest season, and there for has delayed production! There for, he must be taught the meaning of delay!" And with that, the head peacekeeper shoved me back with one hand so hard that I fell on my back. The three other peacekeepers including the second in command howled with laughter at the sight of me being pushed to the ground. As humiliating as it was, I didn't say or do anything, I knew better then to do that.

I was then told to get back to work, we all were, except Oater, who stayed attached to the scarecrow as the rest of us worked. The peacekeepers guarded Oater, keeping the rest of us away from him. Ants and flies started to fly onto his exposed back before attacking it in swarms, and if that wasn't enough, the crows eventually picked up that there was an easy meal laying around and began to pick off bits of bloody flesh from his back to feed themselves. I wanted to do something to help Oater, but with two peacekeepers around him with guns, I couldn't do anything, and pained me to continue working like he wasn't there. My brown clothed headband helped to keep the blood out of my eye until I could get it fixed, but it could only absorb so much blood before it ran its red liquid down into my eye, but my pain was nothing compared to Oater's.

Every couple of hours, one of the peacekeepers would take out a syringe and jab the needle into Oater's neck to make him stay awake. The crows and a majority of the flies would fly away from his back for a brief moment, but they'd return when the peacekeeper was done his business. It was painful to just see Oater like that. To see what he was going though. I wished I could do something about it, but I couldn't do anything to help him.

It was well past sunset, when our work day was over, that we were finally allowed to free Oater and bring him to the district doctor. Several workers including myself rushed him there, his back was dripping with blood and ants and flies. His back was almost completely gone thanks to the crows, and even the wind seemed to give him excruciating pain. I couldn't even imagine what his pain was like, and I couldn't imagine it now while looking at Sami's slain body.

By the time Oater got to the doctor he was dead. When we had the chance to help him it was too late, and it was the same here, with Sami. I couldn't protect Oater back in District eleven, but I could have protected Sami from whoever or whatever did this to her and failed.

The only good thing about the situation that I could think of was that when Sami's cannon had fired off it's shot, her pain had ended, she no longer had to suffer and play this game. She was free, just like how Oater got freed from District Eleven.

Oater's body got buried, but Sami couldn't be buried, not in the arena. Judging from the previous Hunger Games footage's, the dead bodies have to be a certain distance from other tributes before a Capital hovercraft picks them up. That's why Sami's body was still here, she was too close to us, and yet, she was so far from us. From the way the arrows pierced her limbs, she couldn't have been able to go anywhere without destroying those limbs. I was angry, angry at myself, if I had just woken up when I was supposed to, or maybe even a bit later, if I had just woken up last night, none of this might have happened. She could have had a chance of living.

I was sad for Sami, she had to endure this cruel torture, then get dumped here and be left for dead in the freezing cold. It was too much for me.

I didn't want Angel to see Sami like this, she didn't need to see her like this.

I picked Sami up with both hands ever so gently before carrying her away from the big tree. I carried her a fair distance away before setting her down gently on some jungle underbrush. I pulled out the arrows that were in her limbs and held them in my hand. Even though they were Sami's and she was killed by them, Angel and I still needed them, Sami didn't need them with or in her.

I looked at what used to be the orange haired Sami from District Seven and thought of how in this short time, she had changed. Before, she used to not talk a whole lot, she still didn't, but she at least talked to us some, before the Games, she seemed to be scared to talking too much, or just talking in general. But then she started to talk a little more, became more and more comfortable talking to us. In that time, I kind of viewed her as a younger sister, even though she was a year older then me. The time we spent together, the three of us having the occasional small talk, building that bow, getting the idea to turn Angel's spear heads into arrow heads, crafting those arrows, those were some good times, even though what we made was created to kill other kids. I hoped Sami had some good times as well.

"Goodbye Sami." I said to her quietly before standing up and walking away from her. I didn't look back, I didn't want to see her cut up body the way it was now, I'd just think of what she looked like before that, how it was before, that's who she was.

I don't think I showed a lot of emotion over her death, but people fall over dead all the time in District Eleven with the causes being toucher, bullets, starvation, dehydration, fatigue, sickness, heat stroke, and everything else, District Eleven had no shortage of ways to die. I don't think I showed a lot of emotion, but I was still sad over her death, if anything, she deserved something painless, not what had happened to her.

I heard the nearby mockingjays and other creatures go silent, and I knew that behind me was a Capital hovercraft picking up Sami and taking her away from these Games, and I glad for that, she'd be back with her family soon, they'd want her back, not like how she was right now, but they'd want her back.

I walked out of the thick jungle and stepped into the clear area where I had found Sami's body to see Angel stepping over the roots of the giant tree and was heading towards me.

Angel stepped over the last giant root before looking up and seeing me. "Did you find anything?" She asked. She didn't know, and I felt that she didn't need to know, not now, she'd find out that Sami died tonight when they show the dead tribute pictures. She didn't need to see what had become of Sami while we were asleep. We were used to death, but that still didn't mean that she'd need to see it.

"No," I lied to her "I found nothing."

A/N: So what did you guys think of the backstory of Aerin's scar? I feel as if during this chapter I repeated a lot of things, what do you guys think?

How long do you think you'd survive in District Eleven with their murderous peacekeepers, hard work, and lack of food?

**Death list**

**17th place: Sami Lavisa. Cut apart by Alexander.**


	26. I can do this

**Day 3. Early afternoon**

**District Eight's December Juliet "Ember" Varen's POV**

Oh, why did I think that going into that church was a good idea? Sure it was better then sleeping out in the cold, but that place, that place was also housing spiders! Big ones too! I only came back to that place last night because I knew that that was the only place that was safe. Any other building could have been occupied. Why didn't I check the other buildings? It's not like all of them were occupied by other tributes, right?

They might not be occupied by tributes, but they could be occupied by something else, something else being mutts. Right now, the only building I could trust was the church, even if it was filled with those horrible creatures.

No. No. I had to get out of that church before I got scared to death. Or worse, got killed by those spiders. I should have known that those thick webs of dust hanging from the corners inside the building weren't really giant dust balls, but spider webs. I didn't want to believe it back then, and I paid the price by having those creatures crawl on my skin. I could still feel their long, hairy legs on my skin, it was something that I wouldn't easily forget anytime soon. Why didn't I just tell myself that it was a bad idea to go into that church?

I sighed as I collected my backpack of bread, water and three throwing knives along with a nine inch kitchen knife that I found before heading out of the city and into the jungle saying goodbye to that church. I never wanted to go into that place again if I could help it.

The city had easy shelter and the occasional weapon, but it was hard to find food there, the only thing in the city that I found that wasn't trying to run or fly away from me that was edible was a rusty can of peaches that I had randomly found. Not that I was complaining, I never tried peaches before, and the only reason I knew it was peaches was because of the label stuck on the can. I wondered what it was doing there in that dusty old building I was searching and if it was poisoned or not, but I quickly forgot about it when I pulled out a small throwing knife and stabbed a hole on the top of the can. The knife struck the metal with a thunk before it slide through and made the hole for me. I removed the knife from the can before drinking the juice from the can. Oh, it was wonderful, it was sweet and tasted a little like the Capital's syrup, but watered down, watered down a lot.

The liquid cured my thirst, but what I really wanted was the fruit inside. I didn't get a chance to try one in the Capital, so I was definitely going to eat one then. I cut open the top of the can with the throwing knife before removing the top completely and reaching in to take a peace slice from the can and placing it in my mouth. When it went into my mouth, the fruit was sweet and tangy, I never tasted anything like this back home.

I ate slice after slice until all the solids were gone and all that was left was a little of the left over juice. It wasn't there for long, I licked it clean, solids and liquids.

Even now, walking through the jungle, I could still remember the taste of those peaches, it made me feel a little better and distracted me from the Hunger Games for a couple seconds. But with everything in front of me, it made it hard for me to forget that I was in the games, in the city or in the jungle I was constantly reminded that I wasn't home. Back home, the only buildings that were as big as most of the buildings in that abandoned city were the factories, and the factories weren't all rotten and covered in vines. Our houses, which weren't in perfect shapes themselves were also not in such bad shape that vines would cover them. Heck, vines didn't even seem to exist back home, we were surrounded by factories and other buildings. Hell, I never even saw a real tree until the train ride to the Capital. I remember running to the window and looking outside in awe because of the scenery. It was all there, green trees with green grass and sometimes even flowers. I never saw any of those for real until then. I never knew that something so simple could be so amazing. Dav being the jerk he was said that I was stupid for being excited over some greenery. I didn't care though, Dav was stupid, it was probably one of the only times I was going to see greenery. Even now, when I was surrounded by greenery for the last three days, I was still amazed by it. It was beautiful, Dav's stupid mind just couldn't pick that up. Why couldn't he? It's not like he ever saw greenery himself.

But why am I worrying about the past? I need to focus on the present. Find food here in the jungle, find a new shelter in the city without spiders, find a water source where ever, this last half bottle of water won't last forever. Two of those things I needed to focus on right now. Food and water, that's a must for now. The shelter can wait for a bit. After all, shelter was everywhere in the city part of the arena.

I searched for a while in the jungle, and while there were a lot of distractions, such as mockingjays and butterflies and other sights that made my head turn, but I finally found what I wanted, a food source. It wasn't anything too much, it was just a mushroom patch, but some food was better then no food, and I wasn't about to say no to food.

I crouched down to look at the patch of mushrooms and examine them to see if any of them were safe to eat. Looking at the mushrooms, I tried to remember what the foliage instructor had told me and showed me.

Hmmm, some of these seemed familiar, but which ones? I remember her showing me some mushrooms that looked like the ones that were by my feet. What did she say? Ugh, it was there in my mind, but I couldn't remember which ones she was were edible and which ones were poisonous. The mushrooms in front of me were all different colours and had seed like tops.

Looking at the mushrooms again, I knew some of them were familiar, and I then remembered her getting me to sort through the different kinds of mushrooms, having me put the good ones to one side, and the bad ones to the other side. I then remembered some of the ones that she had showed me and saw that only a small portion of this mushroom patch was safe to eat. I remembered now, she said to avoid mushrooms that looked like they had seeds stuck on the tops of them, they were hard to tell apart for a beginner, but she was amazed when I managed to sort though them after a two hour session. In fact, I could tell apart every kind of mushroom. Then when I came back on day three, I spent more time or foliage items. She said I was a natural. Was I? Was I a natural at that? Or did I just get lucky? I don't know. Either way, I seemed to know what I was doing, just like I just seemed to know how to use throwing knives almost perfectly. My aim wasn't nearly as good and as fast as that twelve year old girl from District Two, but I could throw better then some of the other tributes.

I don't know how I managed to learn to identify foliage so fast, maybe it was my smarts that helped me. After all, I did well in school, I studied hard to try and get a good job, like mom who earns quite a lot of money by running a clothing store. She wasn't working in a factory like most of the other people in the district, she had her own businesses. She made clothes that didn't go to the Capital, the money she made also didn't go to the Capital, that's how we managed to get so much money to stay on the rich side of the district. We weren't extremely rich, but we could live comfortably.

It made me wonder why father had stolen from the merchant. Why did he steal from him? We had enough to live comfortably didn't we? He didn't need to steal anything did he? Was he hiding something? It didn't matter what his motive was after he got caught by the peacekeepers, and brought shame to our family and our ancestors. I heard that they were going to send him to prison for ten years, but they changed the sentence to him becoming a peacekeeper in District Three. I didn't see him since, until I was in the train to the Capital, I saw him with that monster during the reapings. Then during the chariot tour in the Capital. Then I even talked to him during training. I hadn't seen him in two years, and he had changed. I don't know what changed about him, but I could sense that being a peacekeeper in District Three had changed him.

What happened there? What happened that had changed the father I knew in two years? I didn't think about it at the time, but I was thinking about it now as I was picking up mushrooms that would serve as my meal when the bread ran out.

I never thought that I'd meet him again. I was glad that I meet him though, even if it was only in the Capital, after all, I was supposed to never see him again. I would have liked to meet him in different circumstances, after all, I hated how in that room, I had to train to kill, to kill other kids. I didn't belong there.

But at the same time, I seemed to be skilled with survival food and throwing knives. Did my ancestors give me that gift so that I could make it out of these games alive? Did they rig the reaping so that I could see my father once again? Did they want me to win so that I could have father come back to District Eight? Could a victor even do that?

I felt a smile crawl onto my face thinking of how maybe, just maybe, my ancestors weren't punishing me, they were only giving me the rough path for a better future. I smiled as I picked the last good mushroom from the ground and placed it into my backpack and zipping it up.

I stood up and began my search for water. I was going to survive. I hoped my father was watching me now so that he could see that I wasn't going to die.

**District One's Griffin Holloway's POV**

Bitch bitch bitch! That's all I've heard from Lynsa's stupid mouth for a while now! So what if Tharizdun killed that little girl from three? You don't have to bitch about it all day! Tharizdun did us all a favor, he killed someone in the arena, that meant one less tribute to worry about. One less tribute to try and find, fight, and kill.

I looked around at my fellow career pack to see if they were as irritated with Lynsa as I was. I looked to my left to see Howl Draconix looking very irritated at this little verbal fight that was going on in front of us. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she kept it in check, but it looked like she was going to explode at any moment, which I couldn't blame her for.

I looked to my right to see Arrowe and Shoney trying to look calm. Well, only Arrowe seemed to be trying to look calm, but he looked more worried then angry. Shoney on the other hand, looked like he didn't have a care in the world for what was happening. Well he should be worried, Lynsa wanted Tharizdun gone, and Tharizdun, no matter how mentally unstable that guy was, was useful to us. He was strong, strong enough to stand up to just about anyone, but strength could only get you so far, and Tharizdun might not even realize that I've got a plan for him later on in the games. He was useful, but only till a certain point, and that point hasn't been reached yet.

I turned to where the most noise was being made, and saw Lynsa in front of Lucifer flapping her mouth to say how we should do something about Tharizdun. Lucifer, who also didn't look very calm himself, was shouting at Lynsa about how he didn't care how Tharizdun killed other tributes as long as they weren't careers and they were dead.

It wasn't much of a strategy, that's the problem with most careers, that's all they think about, finding their next victim before trying to kill them on the spot. If they can they'll sneak up on them, but that's about it. It worked for some tributes, but for others, you might need to plan on how to take them out. Even though my brother Dragon was a great career and an excellent fighter, planning was one of the flaws that got him killed.

I watched some of the tributes in the training center, some of those that I deemed as a threat, like Aerin Sevani from District Eleven and Rayne Page from District Six. I studied them, I made plans for them from what I could see of them, their strengths, their weaknesses, their weapons. I had plans for them. I had back up plans for them. And if those didn't work, I could always improvise with the environment around us. Yeah, strength and skill will only get you so far, but planning your assault will get you even farther.

"There has to be a limit!" Lynsa shouted at Lucifer "there has to be a limit to what he does!"

"What's done is done!" Lucifer shouted back to Lynsa "besides, she would have died anyway!" Lynsa didn't look pleased with that answer. Her teeth were tightly clenched together in a raging fit.

"She was only twelve!" Lynsa shot at him.

"Oooohhhhh!" I heard Howl shout angrily "don't give my that stupid sympathy act!" I turned my head as Lucifer and Lynsa turned towards our little twelve year old. "She was only twelve!" Howl shouting in a sarcastic crying voice "boo fucking hoo!" She shouted in her normal voice "I'm twelve, where's my sympathy!?"

You're a career, you don't show the need for sympathy. And until now, she took it like a champ. Too bad that she was wining about it now.

"You don't need any god damn sympathy." Lucifer said loudly. He didn't shout it, but he didn't exactly say it in an inside voice. I agreed with him, our enemies don't show us sympathy. Why should we show them sympathy?

"Exactly!" Howl agreed.

"Well she wasn't a fighter like us!" Lynsa shouted "she wasn't a fighter! She was defenseless! She couldn't defend herself! Her legs were crushed so she couldn't run away! She was r-"

**District Four's Shoney Germoal's POV**

Lynsa never got to finish that last sentence. I saw that in the middle of 'she couldn't run away!', Griffin started to make his way towards her before smashing a solid fist of built up rage and muscle into his ally's face.

The blow was so powerful, that I flinched from seeing it. It was that sudden. I looked at Arrowe, and saw that he had almost the same reaction I had just had. Except he looked less surprised, like he had seen it coming. Damn, I should have seen it coming as well. Griffin's anger problems, one that we found out in the Capital's training room after a certain tribute rejected an invitation to join that careers.

Egh. Even though I didn't see who would attack Lynsa, I knew it was coming. The situation was like a boiling kettle, it was bound to blow eventually. And me personally, I didn't want to get into a fight that involved three of the big four in this group.

I looked over to Lynsa to see blood running out her mouth and her nose.

"Anyone else?" I heard an intimidating voice ask. I hardly heard Griffin speak, but when he did, his voice sent me the shivers. Not as much as Tharizdun's did, but almost.

"Nah," I said at the same time as Arrowe "I'm good."

"She kind of deserved it." I added. Lynsa did kind of have it coming to her in my opinion. I mean, she looked like she was trying to boss them around.

Damn. I think Eva had the right idea when she left us. Because I'm kind of thinking the same thing.

A/N: Well, that's that.

Anyway, I don't mind constructive criticism, heck, I welcome it. But when you tell me what I should put in and when I should put it in, yeah. Not cool.

Sorry to say, but now I'm in a ranting mood, so who here's going to stop reading this after their tribute dies? All of you took a risk of submitting one, so all of you should have known that there was a 95% chance of your tribute dying sometime. Don't submit unless your willing to let your win AND die.

On a more personal note to everyone: I'm sorry to those of you who's tributes haven't been mentioned too much. Sorry, I try to even it out the best I can, but with lots of other tributes and stuff happening, yeah, you get the picture hopefully. Sorry, I'll try to get your tributes in more often. I try to mention them when the situation suits. And look at it this way, the more the others die, the more your tribute will be mentioned (or something like that).

On another note relating the story: If only you knew December. And sorry if Griffin and Shoney's parts feel rushed (very). Hmmm, I think the writing's changed somehow. I'll fix it in the next chapter (if it has).

Damn, this is a long author's note.

To MyDarkTribute: I don't want to sound like a bitch or anything, but, I know what I'm doing.


	27. Moving on

**Day 3. Mid Afternoon.**

**District twelve's Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

It was hard work to stay hydrated in this environment, this hot, dry, humid environment that was hotter then even the summer days back home, especially if you couldn't find anything to drink. The good news was, I had found something to drink. I wish I'd have found a lake or some other kind of large body of water like I wanted to, but this was a lot better then nothing, and I was far from complaining about my liquid source right now. In the middle of a hot jungle in the middle of the afternoon, you don't complain about drinkable liquid when your white undershirt turns into a dark greyish colour due to your own sweat and your throat is stiff from being dry and begging for something to drink other then your own saliva.

I knocked down another hard, brown, round fruit thing that was hanging at the top of the tree I had climbed while being suspended in the air by hanging onto the branch of one of the giant leaves that grew at the top of the tree with my free hand. I was afraid that when I let my weight fall from the tree and let it hang solely by the leaf branch, even though it was big and thick branched, it'd break before making me fall back down to the ground below before the fall broke my legs, or maybe even kill me. But I grabbed the part that was near the trunk of the tree, and thankfully, it was strong enough to support my weight. It sagged down a bit, which scared me for a bit, but I calmed down once I realized it wasn't going to break. Thank god for being poor, when your hungry, your light. Not that I'd want to weigh a lot, being thin and light has it's advantages, like being able to climb things or sneak into places. Yeah, thank god for being thin and light, otherwise my thieving back home might not have been so successful.

I knocked down one of the fruits growing in the tree by first cutting the stem off the fruit with my knife before watching the fruit thing fall to the ground below me before hearing it slide through the underbrush before hitting the solid ground with a thud.

I'm sure glad that I learned how to climb back home in District Twelve, otherwise I don't know if I could have survived for this long. It was hard work climbing this tall, smooth bark tree, but with the help of my knife and an iron grip that was made up of determination, I managed to climb it. Thank god.

There was a time where I thought of stealing from the careers and the cornucopia, but there were three of them there. They looked like they were being kind of lazy though, heck, one of them was sleeping. One of them was climbing the cornucopia and I didn't know wither I could get past him without him seeing me, it was in the middle of the afternoon and it wouldn't have been easy to hide in that clear space. I could have camouflaged myself, but would it have been good enough? I kind of doubted it, I mean, jungle underbrush in a clear landscape? Cover myself in moss? They'd notice me in a second. Oh man, all of those items were right in front of me yet they were so far away. It was kind of frustrating to know that they were there and I would have a hard time getting them. But then again, that was like anything back home, if we wanted something, we had to work for it, and for me, stealing was hard, but it was something that I had to do to keep my family alive.

It seemed then like I had to risk one of two things to stay alive, one was to try and get around the three guards doing their job, which I think only the girl was taking kind of seriously, they must have thought that nobody would be stupid enough to try to steal from them in the middle of the day with them standing around. Or go back to the jungle and try to find something to drink. I didn't want to go into the city solely because, from what I saw, it was an abandoned city, and I probably wouldn't find something there besides other tributes and weapons. The jungle was the food place as far as I could see. Sure there were lots of buildings to hide in, but that hiding would be pretty worthless if I didn't have anything to eat or drink.

I was going to take my chances with the cornucopia, I felt that I could go slip past the girl, grab as much water and food as possible, then get out of there before anyone could see me. I worried about the girl spotting me though, during the training days, I saw her with those bows and those arrows, she was an expert with those things, a natural, and if I didn't get away in time I'd have an arrow in my head. I didn't want that. But I'd make sure boy climbing the cornucopia wouldn't spot me until it was too late, or not at all, the bandage faced boy wouldn't spot me at all, and I'd make sure to not be spotted by the District One girl. It'd just be like back home when stealing from the mayor, or the peacekeepers. If I thought of the careers as peacekeepers, I'd feel right at home. I'd prefer to do it at night, but I worried that I wouldn't make it that far, plus at night, all the careers are there, and the guards taking watch then would probably be on high alert.

I decided to take the chance, get in quietly and unseen, then get out the same way, but then that District Three giant came from the city edge of the clearing and raped the little girl from his district before scalping her and ripping her throat out with his teeth. The scary thing about it was that the District Three giant seemed to enjoy what he was doing. That made me abandon my plan for stealing from the cornucopia that day. I didn't want to get caught by any of career pack, if that's what they did to their victims, I didn't want to be one. Sure that girl tried to stop him, but the two guys stopped her from helping, and who says that anyone would try to help me out of a situation like that? If they could, or would, even do that.

I climbed down the tall, smooth tree being careful not to slip and fall, but years of climbing buildings have helped me with climbing this tree. The tree was slippery and hard to grip with it's smooth bark, but the house walls and roofs were also slippery in the winter when snow fell from the sky and the window ledges were frozen with ice. Climbing the tree right now was like that, but a little harder. Not too much harder though, it wasn't easy, but I had done harder things back home during the winter months. Not much harder things though, but frozen walls ranked higher in hardness then smooth barked trees at the moment.

I slowly climbed down the smooth trunk of the tree, painfully digging my nails into the trunk of the tree for grip, before letting go of the tree and jumping down the last two feet. Years of sneaking allowed me to easily fall silently to the ground, I had done it so many times I didn't even need to think about it, my body reacted the way I wanted it too. I guess after doing the same thing hundreds of times your body reacts on instinct. My feet landed softly on the ground a split second before my hands would and I'd end up in a crouching position.

I landed on the ground in that crouching position without even thinking. I didn't even feel my body move until I had hit the ground. It was kind of amazing what I could do.

I stood up before I walking over to the hard brown fruit stuff before crouching down beside one of them before placing my knife down beside me before using my hands to rip off the tough outer skin fibers. I didn't have to do this part, but I discovered that it made the next step easier.

After several hard, frustrating minutes, I finally got the outer skin fiber off before I picked my knife up again and stabbed one of the three black eyes on the hard surface of the fruit. I pushed my weight on the knife to get the blade into the hard surface. It was hard, but the blade started to sink into the hard surface after a few seconds of pushing.

The blade sank in before I started to twist the blade to send it in deeper faster.

It took time, but when the blade reached the hollow inside of the fruit, I knew I was almost done. I pulled the knife out of the fruit before I started to make a second hole about six inches away from the first hole. I learned the hard way that if I didn't make a second hole, the liquid inside would splash everywhere out of the first hole because of the lack of air ventilation. I wasn't going to make that mistake again, I wasn't going to waste any drinkable liquid.

I finished with the second hole before pulling my knife out again, setting it down beside me, lifting the bottom hole to my mouth, and let the clear liquid pour out of the brown fruit and into my thirty throat.

I'm sure glad that I found this fruit, I found it purely by accident, but I found it.

I was walking through the jungle looking for a water source after the violent cornucopia incident when I heard something fall beside me. I was a little startled at first because of that. I pulled out my knife to defend myself worrying that someone had found me. I turned around, to see nothing but open jungle. I wasn't going to let my guard down though, it could be someone that was skilled in the art of sneaking, like me. Or someone in camouflage. I studied my surroundings, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I turned my back to where the noise had occurred, took four steps, then unexpectedly turned back to where the sound had occurred. Again, nothing. There was no movement anywhere, and nothing had changed. Hmmm, maybe someone wasn't following me. I looked left and right. Nothing. I looked down, and there was this big round fruit thing. Huh, that wasn't there before. Was it?

I looked at the round fruit with curiosity. I never saw anything like it before, I wondered what it was. I walked over to it and slowly, gently, placed my hands on the round surface of the new fruit thing in front of me. My fingers touched the hard, furry surface of the round fruit before I gently picked it up and examined it left, right, up and down. It really was interesting. I shook in a little bit as an experiment, and was surprised to hear liquid shaking around inside of it.

I placed the fruit down before pulling out my knife and taking a stab at it, but it was harder then it seemed. The knife didn't go down all the way, so I pushed and twisted my knife while placing my weight on it before the knife slid down into the hollow center. I pulled the knife out before raising the hard fruit up to chest level before taking in a smell of the liquid. It didn't smell bad, in fact, it gave off little odor, it didn't smell like much, but it didn't smell poisonous. I tried to think back to the training center to see if I had learned anything about this kind of thing, but I couldn't remember this round, hard fruit. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they didn't show me this, they didn't even mentioned this or anything.

I was thirsty though, it was either this drink this liquid or try to find something else. It didn't smell dangerous, but I didn't know if I could trust it or not.

I decided to try out a little bit, just a little bit, if it tasted poisonous I'd abandon the idea of drinking it. I slowly tilted the fruit so that the hole I made was pointed down towards my mouth on a bit of an angle before letting a little of the liquid, not more then a few drops, pour into my mouth.

The liquid that touch my tongue didn't taste poisonous, and it kind of tasted good as well. I let the liquid drain from the fruit and into my mouth, but it kept on slashing everywhere, but I didn't think about that right now and didn't really care, all I could think of at that moment was that I was actually drinking something, and it was great. I wasn't going to dehydrate to death.

After draining the fruit dry, I thought about breaking it open to see if there was anything edible inside. Couldn't hurt to try. I placed my knife inside the hole I made before sawing the hard fruit in half. It took a long time of sawing, but when it was finished, I saw the white insides of the round fruit. I smelled it, and it seemed to be safe to eat. I shaved some of the white stuff inside the fruit with my knife, and found that that stuff cut off like flakes. It was interesting, and when I tasted it, the taste was also interesting. It wasn't the best thing I tasted, but it most definitely wasn't the worst. Out here, food was food, and that's really all I can ask for right now.

I ate the whole thing and satisfied my stomach before wondering where it came from. I looked up and saw that in the tree above me, there were a couple of those round fruits growing in the tops of those trees. I was saved, I didn't have to steal from the career camp to survive, I just had to look up and try to find those fruits. It was a good substitute for a lake or river I had to say. I just wished that those trees weren't far in between each other.

**Day 3. Late Afternoon **

**District Six's Rayne Page's POV**

"Keep singing," I told Life as she sang to the mockingjays above us "they like your voice." It seemed to be true, the mockingjays were repeating the melody that Life was singing. They were patiently, learning the melody she was singing, Life had a good voice I'll say that much.

I patted Life on the shoulder to show her my support before slowly walking away from her. We had water, but we didn't have much food. That was a problem. We can survive without food for a while, but we'd start to get weak. And the water, we needed to find someplace with water. My inner self wanted to go to the cornucopia and steal water, food, medicine and other things from the careers, but I fought my urge. The doctor back home in District Six said that I had Kleptomania, a mental illness that makes me want to steal things. I remember when I used to steal things from people, mostly my family, and those woodland creatures from work. I knew that it was dangerous to steal things from other people, so I tried to keep it to those two things, but sometimes, I can't help but see something and think of how nice it would be to have it. I'm lucky that I haven't been caught, it was only a few times, but I stole from a few of the shops back home. It wasn't much, but it was dangerous. I worried about my family when I got away, if I got caught, they'd have to see me punished, and its hard work to live in District Six.

I shook those thoughts out of my head. When I'm victor, we won't have to work ever again. We'll have more then enough money to live comfortably. We'll live in the victor's village and live the good life. I'll give money to my friend Zee, and her family won't have to struggle with the poor life. But for now, I have to face the arena life with my ally who was busy with the mockingjays.

I didn't know if Life would approve of the plan I'm thinking of right now, but it was for our survival, so I didn't tell her, she'd understand later anyway.

My target was above our heads, so of course I'd have to climb. Climbing was no problem to me though, I had climbed almost my entire life, so I wasn't worried about that part. But the parts I was worried about was being seen, and scaring away my targets. I had to climb the wall to my left, then go around the wall beside it before jumping to a wooden ledge that held the targets. It would be easy getting there. Getting there without being seen or heard, that was going to be the tricky part. But it was either that or starve. We could go to the forest as I tried to get Life to see, but she still thought that we could live in the city part of the arena. I swear, we're going to need to move soon, they city wasn't really the best place in the arena in my opinion. But then again, no part of the arena is the best place to be, there's always danger, and there's always going to be something wrong. This place was familiar to us because we've been in these parts for the last three days, but we're going to have move soon. I'll bid my time, Life'll see that we have to go to the jungle soon. I knew she'll see. And if she doesn't see, I'll convince her.

I walked over to one of the vine crusted walls before grabbing a handful of moss and began to climb the wall. Climbing this wall wasn't much different then climbing the trees back home. My hands and feet knew exactly where to grab and where to step on, and climbing the wall was easy. Climbing was second nature to me, and I was on the top of the forty foot wall before I knew it. I looked back to my ally to see her still occupied with the mockingjays above her. So far so good.

I pulled my feet up to the top of the wall and balanced by body and held my feet still before lifting my back up and stood straight before turning to my right. Piece of cake, this wall was wide enough for my feet to stand on. It was a barely wider then my feet, but I had walked on thiner branches before, so this wasn't so bad.

I slowly walked towards my goal as to not scare them away while also balancing on the top of the wall. When the got to the end of the thin wall I was walking on, I grabbed onto the left side of the wall and felt for any moss or cracks in the wall. Sure enough, there was a creak big enough for my hand to slip into. I grabbed that before letting my body slowly fall from the wall my feet were on. My left arm supported my body as it hung in the air and my fingers gripped the concrete before my right hand found another creak big enough for my hand to hang from.

I'm sure glad that my bones are really thin. It helps with situation like this, some of those holes were small. I don't think people would like a body like mine, but I'm proud of my body, it's mine after all, and to me, this kind of body is the best for the kind for work I do. And it's helping with the situation right now.

I crawled slowly towards the edge of the wall I was climbing now towards the wooden ledge where my prey was sitting on. Like a spider going towards a fly in it's web.

My hands and feet slowly made their way to the ledge one step at a time. I didn't rush it, one wrong move and I'd fall to my death. I found the right cracks in the wall before moving. My hands felt for them. My feet felt for them. I moved with them. It wasn't like climbing trees, but it wasn't too different, it still had the same basic moves to it.

Slowly but surely, I made it to the end of the wall and was near the ledge. I bend my knees and lowered myself so that my chest was close to the ledge. I gently let go of the wall with my left hand and slowly let my hand make it's way to the ledge. My hand touched the old wood and I became excited. I made my body ready for the next few moves, those next few moves were critical, mess up on those moves and my targets would get away. I relaxed my body and listened to the noise around me. Life's music, the mockingjays repeating it back to her. My plan was still in motion, it could still be done.

I felt that my heart was beating slightly faster then normal as it thumped lightly in my chest. It was getting my body ready for the reaction it was going to do. I tensed my body before doing the first critical move. I let my right hand let go of the crack that it was holding on to while at the same time lifting my legs up to the ledge before twisting my body towards the ledge. My body landed on the wooden ledge before I rolled on it, and I was thankful for that, I was sure that I'd make it, but there was always a chance. Then without pausing, I quickly reached out to my targets and grabbed two of them my the neck, one in each hand, and twisted my wrists causing their little bodies to spin in a circular motion in my hands before their necks broke with a little snap.

The mockingjays stopped singing and began to fly away from me as two of their friends meet their end by my hands.

But two wasn't enough for me, we needed more. I quickly dropped the two dead mockingjays in my hands before reaching back and pulling out my machete and throwing it at one last mockingjay that was flying away from me. The long bladed weapon sailed though the air before catching up to the mockingjay and slicing it's body in half. I watched the machete sail though the air as it got farther and farther away from me and wondered why it wasn't coming back to me. Oh yeah, that's right, it was a machete not a kukri like I was so used to. Damn, looks like I'll have to go and find it later. Woops. Maybe I shouldn't have thrown it so hard. But, I got us some food, three mockingjays, that was food, it was edible. It just needed to be cooked over a fire.

I looked down to Life and saw her with a shocked expression on her face. Her mouth hung open while her eyes were wide like she couldn't believe what I had done. She was certainly surprised, and I kind of don't blame her, I bet she never expected me to get three mockingjays in a few short seconds. Those birds were fast, but not as fast as me. I actually feel kind of proud of myself right now, I didn't make a single mistake, I managed to get us some food, what was not to like?

I gave a happy wave to Life before saying to her "good job!"

**Day 3. Early Night.**

**District Four's Evaline "Eva" Ellery's POV**

I knew that my supplies won't last forever, I knew that they wouldn't last forever when I took them from my former allies, but I never thought that it'd disappear so fast. The food, almost all gone. The water, almost all gone. I never got a chance to use that iodine, or that wire which I thought would have came in handy if I ever found what I was looking for from the beginning.

I continued to run though the jungle, even though the sun was beginning to set and the night was getting darker, I continued to run. I didn't know what else to do, everything else I tried so far has failed. I betrayed my career allies because I'd rather be alone in this hostile environment rather then worry about being stabbed in the back by Lucifer for being the so called useless reaped career girl. Honestly, what is with him? So what if I didn't train as intensely as him, or Howl, or Griffin? I don't even like the Hunger Games, I have more important things to worry about then training my entire life to die in the arena, unlike a lot of other kids in my district. I needed to take care of my younger sister Macey, but the games took that away from me.

I briefly touched the fish shaped pin on my coat to remind me of District Four, where my friends and family were. I was going to win this, for Macey, for dad. They would have a hard time without me. Well, if dad can get out of his depression and start working properly again they could survive. I wanted that, I really wanted that now, if he could get out of that depression they could survive without me. If he could get out of his depression, I wouldn't feel so bad about being in the Games right now. They could survive on their own. But for now, they needed by help. I couldn't let them struggle by themselves. I need to get back to them.

I felt something start to build up in my eyes before I felt something hit my feet before I started to fall to the ground. I was surprised that something would be in my way, I should be paying more attention to the present in front of me then daydreaming and worrying about home. If I didn't keep focused, I'd end up dead. I learned that from Shoney's attack a couple days ago. Why he helped a traitor like me I still don't know, but I wasn't putting too much thought into it.

Using the moves I learned back home, I leaned my right shoulder forward and waited for it to land on the ground below me. When my shoulder hit the ground, I rolled my body forwards and quickly got to my feet before drawing my knife that was hanging from my belt. As I drew my weapon, I turned towards what I had tripped over, for all I knew it could have been trap set by another tribute, and they could be here right now.

I finished by turn to see a thin, pale, blond haired girl holding the right side of her ribcage with her left hand while holding a seven inch combat knife in her right hand. Oh god. Did I hit her? Did I run into her? Is this my fault? Did I present a threat to her? I couldn't tell, her face didn't show anger, or fear, or anything. Her face was blank, she showed no emotion towards me. None.

"I'm sor-" I started, but I stopped when I noticed that she had turned around and was to run away from me. I then watched her run away from me at a pretty impressive speed. I had seen how fast Lucifer and Shoney could run, and she was at about Shoney's level, which is pretty darn fast. I watched her run before she disappeared into the surrounding jungle. I store at the jungle where she had run away wondering why she had run away from me. Did I seemed like that much of a threat to her? Was I that much of a threat? I mean, I was from District Four, a career district, so non-career tributes must be scared of me. Still, it was odd, I just wanted to help her, I mean, I must have ran into her. Why did she run away from me? "-ry?" I finished to the empty space around me.

I continued to stare at the empty space until I decided that she was gone for sure. I turned around and started to walk away from the spot that I had tripped at and continued on my way to where ever.

**District Twelve's Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

Oh man, I thought she'd never leave. I watched the red haired girl from Four turn around before walking away from my camp. When she was out of sight, I slowly stood up from my hiding spot made of underbrush, a log, and darkness. I admit, it's not the best hiding place I could make, but it was quick and easy and within eyesight of my camp.

I looked at the backpack that that girl had on her back, it looked like it might have some useful equipment inside, but I wasn't going to risk my life to try and fight someone, let alone a career. I was smarter then that, I wasn't going to risk getting myself killed until there were only two of use left. When that time comes, I'll sneak up on them then kill them. Until then, I had to stay off everyone's line of sight.

I watched the red haired District Four girl disappear into the jungle, waited a minute, then went back to my camp sight.

I went over to my tent that was made of five pieces of tree bark. I would like to have a real tent, I mean, this tent had a lot of flaws in it. Sure it could maybe blend in easier then a real tent, maybe. But the ground was hard, and I wasn't really a fan of finding bugs crawling on my skin in the morning. But that wasn't the point right now, the point was, someone had tripped over my camp, and what makes me think that she won't come back to finish me off? It may have been an accident that she ran into my homemade tent and tripped over me, which really hurt, what was she, running?

I scanned the area looking to see if she, or anyone else, or anything else, was near here. I looked for a minute or so while also listening to the surrounding area wondering if there was anything to worry about. After all, she was running.

A minute passed before I declared it safe. I couldn't hear any footsteps and I didn't see anything near here. That's a relief, I don't want anyone or anything to find me. I bent down to pick up the pieces of bark that made up my tent when I felt pain in my right mid area. Ow. She had hit me harder then I thought. It wasn't going to be easy, but I needed to move my camp.

A/N: For my earlier rant in the last chapter, I'd like to say again, I am sorry, I was angry at the time. MyDarkTribute, I'm going to do a friends and family interview thing later on in the story.

Anyway, I'm surprised that nobody had complained about anything, (except that one person) so I'm kind of wondering if anybody has any complaints about this story. I want to hear them. Don't be shy, I want to know if something's wrong. Constructive criticism always welcome.

Happy Holidays everyone!


	28. Forever asleep

**Day 3. Early Night.**

**District Four's Shoney Germoal's POV**

Ah man, I just can't get to sleep tonight. I just wasn't tired, or in the mood for sleeping tonight. I don't know why, I just felt that way for some reason. No part of my sleeping bag felt comfortable enough to sleep on and I had to keep moving to try and get comfortable. Of course, it didn't get any better no matter which part of my body was on the ground or in which way my body was facing or in what position it was in.

Naghhgh, I might as well just stay up for a while until I get tired, after all, what am I going to do? Stay in bed while being uncomfortable? Did I really want to do that? Maybe, I mean, do I really want to stand guard outside and assume that nobody's coming to attack us. It's pretty stupid to attack the career pack, but there's still the possibility that someone might try that. Who'd be that stupid anyway? Daytime, impossible, unless you wanted a full scale invasion. Nighttime, maybe. But it'd still be hard for them, but it might be possible to sneak past us if they were into stealth. Ah well, someone like that might not be a fighter, and if they get caught, well, that's that for them. If they don't, good for them. But you only need to be caught once by us, then your dead.

I grabbed the front of my sleeping bag with my left hand before unzipping the zipper with my right hand. When the sleeping bag was zipped open enough, I got my body out of it before putting on the light brown hiking boots that every other tribute got and tied them tight. I didn't know how long I'd be out there, so might as well tie them like I'll be up all night. Which I might be, I sure didn't feel like going to sleep anytime soon.

I looked up after tying my boots that Arrowe's sleeping bag was empty. Oh yeah, he was guarding the cornucopia tonight. I'm sure glad that it's him guarding tonight instead of one of the big four, but there's still the possibility of one of them guarding with him. Well, let's see what's happening. I grabbed my thick blue coat before throwing it over my shoulders and placing my arms through the sleeves until they poked out of the ends. Following that, I reached down and unzipped the flaps of the tent's entrance before stepping out into the cold night of the arena. Man, this temperature was almost like winter. Good thing I have this thick coat to keep me warm. I wonder how the other tributes out there are dealing with the night. The city ones should be in buildings, but the jungle ones, I wonder if they found some way to make shelter. I hope they did, but a shame for just the career pack tributes to win because they have all the equipment. Well, Eva isn't part of the career pack anymore, but she started out with us, so she's got the equipment needed to survive our there, or at least some of it. Wonder how she's doing. She's not dead yet, but how much longer can she last out there on her own? She might surprise us. She might die tonight. Who knows? Not me, that's for sure. I may have helped her with that first aid kit, but that didn't guarantee anything. I just hoped that it helps her. I did what I always wanted to do back home, lets just hope it does make a difference.

"Hey." I heard a voice call out. I turned towards the voice to see Arrowe waving his hands at me while holding a machete in his right hand. "Hey." He called out again while also now jumping up and down. What was his problem? What did he want so badly? I sighed before walking over to him.

When I got close to him I asked

"What do you so desperately need?" I asked wondering what Arrowe needed my attention for. I saw him the first time he called out hey. He didn't need to keep jumping up and down to get my attention.

"Can you guard this place in my place for a bit?" He asked rather quickly. Hmmm, something was up.

"Sure I guess, but-"

"Thanks man, your a pal." Arrowe interrupted me before turning around and started running towards the jungle part of the arena.

"The fuck?" What did he need in the jungle? Did he see something? Was he going to run away from the career pack as well? Nah, he wouldn't. Would he? I saw it with Eva, but with Arrowe, he didn't seem the type to get away from the careers. But then again, he might, after all, he was a risk taker. Well if I were in his position I'd wait until the final eight before running away from the careers. Or somewhere around there.

"Thanks, I really needed that." I heard Arrowe say as he reappeared from the jungle. Well that didn't take too long. What was he doing?

"What did you need?" I asked him wondering about that.

"I just needed to take a piss." Arrowe told me.

"Fascinating." I told him sarcastically. "Why didn't you just go instead of waiting for someone to wake up?" I asked him now wondering about that. I mean, he could have just gone and nobody would have known.

"I was thinking about that," Arrowe told me "but I don't want the one time I mess up to be bad."

"Understandable." I told him as he sat down on one of the many crates near the cornucopia. Maybe I'll stand guard with him, nothing else to do.

"Man," Arrowe sighed "doesn't that guy ever sleep?" I looked at Arrowe, then looked to where he was looking at to see who he was talking about, to see Tharizdun standing by himself, just standing there doing nothing. What was he doing? And come to think about it, I've never seen him sleep either. It was strange, didn't he need sleep as well?

"He probably does." I told Arrowe, after all, everyone needs sleep. Even the mentally unstable. "Maybe he's an insomniac?" That seemed like a likely possibility.

"I don't know," Arrowe said like he was thinking of something else "even insomniacs have to sleep sometime, and I've never seen him go into a tent or fall asleep even once the whole time we've been in the arena." Neither have I, but that didn't mean that he never slept.

"Maybe he's asleep right now." I said to Arrowe, after all, that guy looked like a statue right now.

"I don't know," Arrowe said with doubt in his voice, but at the same time seemed to think that was a good explanation.

"Look," I said before he could finish whatever he was going to say, if he was going to say anything "I'll show you, he's been awake the whole time you've been guarding tonight right?"

"Yeah," Arrowe said "and he's been awake all morning."

"So he's got to be tired." I told him while walking over to the giant in our group. I got up behind Tharizdun before I called out to Arrowe "I mean, if he were awake, would he react to this?" I then jumped in front of Tharizdun and shouted

"Hellllllllloooooooo!" While waving my hands in front of his face, or as close as I could get them to his face.

"What do you want?" Tharzidun said to me as I finished my hello to him, which really startled me. Wasn't this guy supposed to be really really tired?

"Uh," I said taking in the surprise of him still being awake by taking a couple steps back while trying to not wake up the other careers by shouting in fright. "Nothing." I told him before walking around him and going back towards Arrowe.

"That guy is unbelievable." Arrowe said as I approached him again.

"I know." I told him feeling the same way. What is this guy? He barley seemed human. Sleep? Forget about it for him? Morals? Forget about that as well. Strength, this guy looked stronger then even Griffin. This guy didn't seem human. And when I looked into those eyes, they looked the same as they always did. They looked like the eyes of a cold blooded murderer, they had the mix of Hunger Games victors back home, and those of careers. Cold blooded and murderous. But unlike those that manage to get home, his eyes didn't contain anything else, they didn't contain sorrow, a broken person, regret, life, or anything else. Soulless, that's what they were. Cold blooded, murderous, and soulless. Even when he had that little girl from three, his district partner, when he was going to kill her, he had a smile on his face, but his eyes remained the same. How someone could be like that is beyond me. Maybe if I were a proper career, or from District Two I'd understand. But not even Griffin, Lucifer or Howl had the looks of Tharizdun. They at least had some life and soul in them.

"Glad he's on our side huh." I said to Arrowe. It wasn't a question, I'd rather be with him then against him, and I'm sure Arrowe feels the same way, no question about it.

"Yeah." Arrowe said while looking at the surrounding area of the cornucopia. "I'm glad he's on guard though." Of course, he's the probably the most feared tribute in the arena. Plus, two people guarding are better then one person.

We stood, well, I stood, he sat on a crate, watching the empty clearing ahead of us until it hit the city in silence. We just stayed where we were, doing nothing, just watching for nothing. Not that it was bad, but it was just so boring.

"I'm going to take a walk in the city," I told Arrowe "maybe a little walk around will help me go to sleep." I've never been in the city, so I wondered what it looked like. Now might be a good time to see it.

"You sure about that?" He asked "you want to go alone? I could come with you and have someone else take my place."

"No thanks," I told him "I don't think any rat mutts are going to chase after me, and even if they did, we wouldn't be able to fight that many anyway. Other then them, there's only other tributes in there, and what are the odds of me running into one of them? They should all be asleep right now."

"Like you are now?" Arrowe said with a little laugh. Good point though, I didn't think about that.

"They'll most likely be in buildings, I don't think the tributes out there are equipped for the weather right now." Nobody except Eva that is, but last time I saw her she was in the jungle part of the arena. But she could have changed courses and headed for the city after I left her.

"All right," Arrowe said "but come back soon and don't get lost."

"Yeah. Sure." I said to him. I won't. And with that, I walked away from the career camp and went towards the city part of the arena.

***Later that night***

Walking through the city was a lot different then walking through the jungle, there were more clear paths here then there. Though I could see how other tributes might get lost in this city, a lot of the buildings looked the same. It wasn't just their sizes, there were some that were big and others that were small, but they all seemed to be at least partially covered in moss or vines. And they were all at some stage of decay. Heck, some of them looked like they could fall at any moment in my opinion. But on the whole, they all looked pretty much the same to me.

Walking through the city was fun, but it didn't make me feel anymore tired then I already was. I turned around to walk back to the career camp, this was enough walking around for now. Maybe I'll do some physical training to help me sleep. Griffin, Lynsa, Lucifer, Howl and I usually practiced practiced in the morning, but I needed a way to make myself at least sort of tired. You know what, I'll run back to the career camp, it's not like any tributes are going to suddenly pop out of the darkness to attack me, they should be all asleep. And besides, unlike them, I have night vision glasses, I could see them before they could see me. The vision wasn't perfect, I mean, when I'm wearing them, the world around me are shades of green, black, and white, but I'd rather have that then just pitch black.

How far was I from the camp? I wondered that. But then I decided that it didn't really matter, I just wanted to see how fast I could get back there, no matter the distance. You know what, I just wanted to run, just run as fast as I could to make myself tired.

I then began moving my feet forwards, one foot in front of the other and picked up speed. I ran towards the camp as fast as I could trying to tire myself out. And it felt kind of good I must say, at least I'll be going to sleep when I get back to the cornucopia. Hopefully.

I ran towards the cornucopia, at least, I think it was the direction of the cornucopia, and wondered if I'd actually be tired enough to fall asleep. But then I noticed a strange light in one of the buildings ahead of me. The light was flickering, it seemed to appear and disappear at random times. Hmmm, interesting, I wonder what it is.

**District Six's Rayne Page's POV**

I didn't think that Life would be so mad at me after I climbed down from that ledge where the mockingjays had been resting at. After I got down from the ledge and presented the prize of two dead mockingjays in my hands, she didn't seem too happy. Ok sure, I tricked her into singing for the mockingjays to distract them, but it was needed. Food was food after all, and you needed food.

Hunting these mockingjays was no different then hunting the woodland creatures back home. I killed them, skinned them, cooked them, then ate them. These birds were no different. I'd have liked them to be a little bit bigger, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Eat something." I told her tossing the body of half a mockingjay at her. It was the one that I had cut with my machete, the one that I had to search for, the one that made me have to search for my machete after. But I wasn't going to just not collect it because I couldn't immediately find it, we needed all the food we could get, and I wasn't going to waste any of it.

The cooked mockingjay meat landed in front of Life's feet as I took another bite out of my half mockingjay. It wasn't the best tasting bird that I had ever tasted, but it was a lot better then some of the things my family sometimes tried when we were hungry.

Life looked at cooked mockingjay for a little bit before grabbing the cooked bird in her hands and started eating it with little bites. Thank god that she was eating, I didn't want her to die. And it was the least she could do after I had made this fire by rubbing two sticks together over this pile of moss and pieces of sticks. I then used two of those little sticks as miniature spears to skewer the mockingjays before cooking them over an open fire. They cooked rather well after I plucked all the feathers off, which was a task greatly helped by Life, she seemed to know what she was doing with those feathers, like she had done it before.

"You should have told me." I heard Life's voice tell me as I continued to eat my bird.

"I didn't know if you'd approve or not." Was all I said to her as I took another bite of the cooked bird.

"You should have still told me." She replied.

Silence yet again, only broken by crackling of the fire in front of us.

I gave out a sigh. Here we were again.

I then suddenly heard a creak. It sounded like it came from outside. I looked towards Life, and it seemed like she heard the same thing as I did, her face was full of surprise.

We waited a moment, waiting for the sound to appear again. I tried to look like I never heard the sound, hoping that it wasn't some other tribute trying to sneak up on us. I reached over to grab and grabbed a thick stone that was beside me when another there was another groaning noise. It seemed to come from the boarded up window in front of me.

I lifted the stone, stood up, and quickly threw the stone with all my might at the boarded up window. The stone sailed through the air before smashing the boards blocking the window. The two center boards exploded into two pieces while splinters of wood flew from the point of impact. At the same time, I heard someone outside shout out in surprise.

Damn, a tribute was here. Well, they started it. I pulled out my machete from it's holster and reached into Life's backpack and fished around for the night vision glasses that were in there. As soon as I felt them touch my fingers I yanked them out and placed them over my eyes and the world suddenly became a series of three colours, green, black, and white. I ran to the door and opened it to face the enemy tribute, only to feel something smash painfully into my face.

Pain exploded in my nose as I took in the surprise attack. I didn't expect the enemy to attack so soon, or attack like that, I thought that they'd be surprised by the rock I threw. I ignored the pain as best I could, which wasn't easy, and looked up to see the person who attacked me, and saw the District Four male holding the very stone I had thrown in one of his hands.

I saw him raise the stone in the air before throwing it down at me, but I expected him to do that, so I rolled out of the way and heard the large stone smash into the concrete beside me.

I quickly got to my feet expecting him to attack me, so I raised my machete and swung it in his general direction, only to see that he wasn't there anymore. That surprised me to not see him in front of me, but what really surprised me was that his back was turned from me, and he was running away from me.

"What the?" I asked myself. Why was this guy running away? Ahhhhh! It didn't matter! He wasn't getting away. He looked like he could run pretty fast, but I don't think he's as fast a runner as I am.

I started sprinting towards him ready to pay this coward back for what he had done to me. "Come on Life!" I shouted to my ally "This way!" This guy wanted to run, let him run, he wasn't getting away from me.

As we continued to run, I found that I was right, I was faster then him, and I was catching up to him. Ha! Loser! Thought he could outrun me? What an idiot. He may be a career, but I was strong and fast as well. Faster even. I caught up to him and was within striking range when he suddenly turned towards me and I felt myself slam into something hard.

I felt my feet leave the earth before I fell to the ground on my back. Hard. The grass growing from the concrete road did little to cushion my fall. Pain radiated from my face and my back as I looked up yet again to see what he had done to me. I saw that he had stopped in the middle of the road and stuck his arm up and out to clotheslined me. That little bastard, he was all cheap shots.

I saw the world black out for a second before a splash of colours suddenly appeared in front of me at the same time my face started to hurt even more then it did a second ago. I let out a shout of pain before swinging my machete around to hopefully cut the District Four boy's legs off. But I felt my machete hit nothing but air.

I quickly got to my feet, and saw that he was running away from me again. Why was I not surprised? Well I wasn't going to fall for that trick again. I sprinted towards him again, and soon caught up to him again. When I was within striking distance I didn't attack, instead, I defended my face the instant I saw him move his body around. I stopped moving and raised my arms to my face to block whatever he was going to attack it with. I know your moves kid, you can't fool me again. I wasn't going to fall for the same trick a third time, I wasn't stupid. But I felt something hit me behind the knees. I felt my legs buckle before my back, yet again, painfully slammed into the ground. "Is that all you can do!?" I shouted angrily at the cheap career who could only do cheap shots "cheap shots you little coward!" In between my words I slashed my machete around hoping to hit him before he attacked me or ran away again as I got to my feet.

"Whatever lets me win." I heard him say behind me. I turned around in surprise to see a flash of steel being thrust towards me. Quick on my feet, I moved my body to the left and dodged the short bladed weapon he was holding. I raised my machete to chop off his arm, but something smashed into my face and I staggered back a step. It was only one step, but it made my machete miss his arm by mere centimeters. What the hell did he hit me with?

I lost that thought as I felt something else hit me in the left side of the ribs. Judging by the force of the impact and the shape of it, I guessed he hit me with his foot. I staggered back a few more steps because of his kick before I swung my machete in his general direction. The blade slashed through air, but I saw that he kept his distance as I continued to swing my weapon at him.

I'm glad for my weapon, it wasn't my first weapon of choice, but it was better then his weapon in my opinion. My machete was way bigger and heavier then his little toothpick of a weapon. A four inch dagger verses a machete that was nearly two feet long. I had the advantage in both reach and power, but he had speed because of his lighter weapon. I may be faster at running then him, but would I be faster at thrusting my weapon? I don't know, and I wasn't going to act stupid just to see if I could. You know, I've been acting kind of stupid recently, I chased after him and tried to give him a quick death. I tried to kill him quickly. But that wasn't going to work on him like it did with Ricky. Even if Ricky had been facing me I bet he still wouldn't have put up much of a fight. This guy however, he knew what he was doing. A simple thrust worked with Ricky. For this guy, I was going to need to try other things.

I saw the bandaged face career thrust his blade at me. I almost laughed at him, he thought that he could get to me before I stabbed him in the face? With that tiny weapon? Please. I swung my machete at his blade, only for it to hit air. What the? A fake shot? With my body open for attack, I tried to get my weapon back to a defense position, or at least in a position for me to attack him. I saw his body quickly twist in a semi circle before his body went down and I felt something hit me in the ankles. I felt my feet leave the ground again as my face began it's journey to the ground again. I used my left arm as a makeshift pillow to cushion my face from the ground, but when my face landed on my arm, all it did was make my face and arm hurt instead of only my face. I wasn't going to do that again. It wasn't worth it.

Without anytime to think, I saw that career's body spinning towards me as his body spun in a circle on the ground. His back on the ground and his dagger coming right at my face. I quickly did the first thing I thought of, there was no time to think about anything else, if I didn't react I'd die. I slashed at his weapon, and they collided with each other with a ring of steel on steel.

Thank god I didn't just die right now.

The career then spun his body and somehow used his hand to spring himself up to his feet rather quickly. I might not have fancy moves like that, but I managed to get to my feet just after him. I looked him in the eyes and gave him my best I'm going to fucking kill you glare. I don't know if it was because of the glare or if it was part of his plan, but he turned his back and ran away from me. Again.

"Oh that's it!" I shouted before doing something desperate. I threw my machete at him before he got too far. I knew that it probably wasn't the best plan, but I was so angry at kid. I aimed for his back, but surprisingly, he must have heard it coming, because he thrusted his body to the left, and the machete missed his back. But as it missed his back, it still managed to hit something. Through the night vision glasses, I saw the machete slice through his right hand.

I heard a loud shout of pain as three fingers and half his palm fell to the ground followed by white liquid that I knew was blood.

Yes! Now he was weaponless! Well, so was I, but he was weaponless as well! I then ran towards him as he reached down and tried to pick up his short dagger with his left hand. I saw his hand wrap it's fingers around the hilt of the dagger, but he was still bending down when I got near him. I didn't stop running when I swung my right leg up and smashed it into his face before hearing a satisfying crunch. His head snapped back as I fell to the ground from my own momentum. My leg sailed high over my head before I fell on my back again. But I didn't care about it this time, I had cut off half his hand and gave him an almighty kick to the face. After all that abuse from him, that one powerful kick felt incredible. Me falling on my back just now. Totally worth it.

I stared to get myself up to my feet, only to feel something strike me hard in the face. The upper part of my body fell back to the ground before I felt something heavy press against my neck. I caught a glance at what it was, it was the career's left knee that was on my neck. How did he recover from my kick so fast? It didn't matter right now, I had to get him off me, my neck was thin, and it didn't seem to take a lot of time to make me feel like I was already dying.

I grabbed his knee with both hands, only to find that only my right arm could get up and reach for his knee. I moved my eyes to the left side of my body to see that his right knee was pressing behind my left elbow. I tried to get out of his pin, but I couldn't find the strength with just my right hand. I was strong yes, but I couldn't get the full weight of his guy's body off with just my right arm. First of all, my strength was cut in half, second, I was getting weaker my the moment, third, whenever I moved my right arm, more pressure would build on my left, and when that happened, I felt my bones wanting to break. I didn't know what to do.

I felt something start to beat in my neck, and started to hear sounds in my ears. Odd sounds. Then the world went black. Was I already dead? No, all he did was take off my night vision glasses, I could still feel the beating in my neck and hear the sounds in my ears.

"You took three of my right fingers," I heard the voice of the District Four career say to me angrily "now I'll be taking your life."

**District Four's Shoney Germoal's POV**

Pain was in my right hand where three of my fingers and half my palm had been sliced off my her weapon. Pain was radiating heavily from my face where she had kicked me. I felt my face, and I don't think I even have a nose anymore it felt that bad. This girl was insanely strong for someone of her build. She was so thin that she reminded me of a matchstick, tall, thin, and breakable, but she was solid, not breakable, like a brick wall. I had hurt myself when I slammed my arms and elbows into her when she had chased me. I had almost fallen over as well. She was stronger then even my brother Galex. Hell, she was stronger then my father. She was more then meets the eye that was for sure.

I felt the District Six girl rapidly get weaker and weaker. She was going to die soon, her neck was thin, which made it easy for me to cut off her air supply with my knee.

"You fought well." I told her truthfully. She really did, I was surprised by her, she had given me the biggest fight of my life. She had earned her training score of ten, but this wasn't training, this was the real thing. I wasn't going to let her live like I did with Eva. District Six was going to die. I just wish she'd die soon, I didn't want to bleed out and die. I wanted to end this before heading back to the cornucopia.

Something hit my right shoulder. It didn't hurt, but it came as a surprise. What had hit me? I looked over and saw a blowdart in my shoulder. I reached over with my left hand and pulled it out before I looked up in the direction it had came from.

Only to see a girl jumping at me.

**District Ten's Life Lee's POV**

The first four darts had missed their target, but the fifth dart managed to hit something. It wasn't what I was aiming for, but it'll do. The career looked at the dart, distracted by it for a couple seconds before pulling it out and looking in my direction before I jumped at him and tackled him to the ground.

I didn't think I'd have the strength to do it, I was so tried from chasing after those two I didn't think I'd even have the energy to make it. I'm glad that I didn't stop to take a breath, if I did, Rayne might be dead right now.

I gasped and wheezed as my chest felt like it was going to explode from all the running I just did. How those two could do it and then fight each other I don't know. But they did it.

"Damn it!" I heard the career shout angrily before grabbing my shirt with his two fingers and smashing my face in with his other hand. Pain rushed into my face with each hit. I wasn't just going to take it though, I attacked back, and even though I couldn't see where I was hitting him, I attacked back. I didn't know if I was going to hit him as often as I'd have liked, but I continued to attack anyway, feeling my fists hit him sometimes and sometimes hitting nothing but air. Even so, I continued to attack him. I wasn't going to just take his punches, I was going to fight back.

I then felt our bodies roll over before I felt my back being pressed on the ground. I didn't feel any new hits for several seconds, but I knew he wasn't gone. I couldn't see that well due to the flashing colours in front of me, but I felt that he was still here near me. I continued to swing my arms around hoping to hit him when I felt something hard and pointed slam upwards into my chin. The blow rattled my both my lower and upper jaw, all my teeth, my check bones and my skull. It was so painful. So painful. But I couldn't give up, this boy was out to kill me, out for my blood because I had saved Rayne. This guy wouldn't stop till I was dead. So I'll fight till I'm dead.

**District Four's Shoney Germoal's POV**

What were with these girls? How were they so tough? This girl got a full powered knee to the chin and she was still fighting like nothing even happened. This was scary, really scary. Did these girls have steel bodies?

The girl I was on continued to throw blind fists at me, which was crazy. I pulled my right leg back and thrust it forwards for another knee to her chin, and made contact with her chin again. Her head snapped back yet again. Her attacks stopped for a brief moment, but like last time, she started attacking again soon after my attack was done. What was with this girl?

**District Six's Rayne Page's POV**

I coughed and inhaled air like never before. One moment I thought I was going to die, the next, I was breathing again, and it felt so good and so painful at the same time. My neck felt like it had been crushed, but it was quickly recovering with air. My natural night vision hadn't kicked in completely yet, but when I looked over to my left, I saw that the career was on Life now. Life. She had saved me. Well I had to save her now. I owed her after all.

Weak as I was, I slowly got to my feet and continued to cough as I breathed in air.

The career attacked Life again, and Life couldn't seem to do anything other then throw wild punches at him. I went over to the career as fast as I could and grabbed the back of his jacket with both hands, and pulled him off of Life as hard as I could. The career, probably not expecting me to get up anytime soon, easily got off of Life's body and fell on his back and faced me as I looked down on him for the first time in this fight.

Before he could even react, I gave him a strong kick across the face which caused his night vision glasses to fly off his face as well as a spray of blood to escape his mouth. I reeled back my right foot to give him another one. I kicked at his face again, but this time he grabbed my foot and twisted it. Before I could do anything to prevent it, my body twisted along with my ankle and I soon found myself face down on the ground again. I then kicked at him with my left foot to try and hit him but hit nothing but air. I tried again with the same result. Then unexpectedly, I felt something bite into my leg before warm liquid flowed onto the place where I felt pain.

**District Ten's Life Lee's POV**

A frighteningly loud, high pitched scream pierced the air as the wild colours around me started to fade away from my vision. I looked up, past the splashing colours in front of me, to see Rayne on the ground again, with the career biting into her leg! It was Rayne that was screaming like a little girl, she must be in so much pain right now, I never heard her scream out like that before.

That scream that sounded so much like my little Faerie when our Old Den, our horse, had crushed her to death. She screamed just like that, she sounded helpless, and screamed until she was nothing but a pile of goo. Hearing Rayne screaming like that, I didn't hear or see Rayne for a split second, I saw my little sister being bitten by the bandaged face District Four career.

I got up as fast as I could, but my body didn't seem to be fast enough. I kept on falling to the ground as my body refused to cooperate with me. It was like my body wasn't really mine. I had this feeling many times before, where I felt that my body wasn't really mine, but someone else's entirely. I learned to ignore it as best I could, but sometimes, I couldn't help but feel like something was off about me, like I'm not really real and my body is just a piece of trash inside of someone else.

I moved my arms to get myself up, but my arms didn't feel right, they felt too long. I felt like I wasn't really in control as I kept on falling to the ground. In this state I don't think I can make it to Rayne in time. This was just too awkward.

But then Rayne let out another high pitched screams as the career continued to bite into her skin.

Rayne. Rayne looked like she shouldn't be fighting, and neither did the career she was fighting. They both looked so beat up. Blood everywhere. Injuries everywhere. They looked like they shouldn't even be able to fight, but they did so anyway.

I wasn't going to give up now, not after everything that's happened in the past few moments. I willed myself to control this body and hoped that I'd be able to control this body well enough in time for me to save Rayne.

Rayne let out another high pitched scream as I placed my hands on the ground and pushed this body up. I got to my knees before getting one foot up, then the next. I stood up and without thinking, ran towards the career. I ran as fast as I could towards him before bending down and grabbing him by the jaws and pulled them apart as hard as I could.

I felt his teeth loosen up on Rayne's leg before I pulled him away from Rayne with all my might.

I fell on the ground. The career landed on top of me with a thud. I wrapped my arms around his neck and placed him in a chock hold. I had seen other tributes do this is previous games, and it seemed to work against most tributes.

I squeezed as hard as I could and held him with an iron grip as the career struggled to get out. He twisted and turned his body, but I continued to hold on to his neck as I cut off his air supply. He twisted his body again and almost made me fall over, but he was weak from fighting us and I managed to stay on my feet. No, your not going to hurt her anymore.

Unexpectedly, I felt something warm hit my eyes as my vision turned red.

**District Six's Rayne Page's POV**

Son of a bitch bit me! He was going to pay for that!

I painfully got to my feet to see that Life had him in a chock hold, and the career was trying to get out of it by placing his cut off hand in her eyes, blinding her with blood.

I ran up to the career and stopped within striking distance of him before reeling my right arm back it's full distance. I wasn't going to hold back for this strike, I was going to hit him as hard as I could with all my strength.

As fast as I could, I swung my right fist into the side of his head before moving my body with my arm. My fist smashed into his face before the career, Life, and I, all fell to the ground. The career because I hit him with the strongest punch I had ever gave someone, Life because she was holding the career, and me because I followed my own momentum.

The side of my body slammed onto the ground before I heard the thuds of two more bodies fall in front of me.

"Get off him Life," I told my ally "I've got this." I turned to the career and Life to see her letting go of the career's neck. Life got away from the career's body before I placed my body on top of his and started to beat the living shit out of what little life he had left in him.

**District Ten's Life Lee's POV**

The events in front of me I could only describe as brutal and horrifying. After Rayne got on top of the career's chest she grabbed the right side of his head with her left hand and began to repeatedly punch his face with her right fist.

Rayne gave out punch after punch after brutal punch, and it didn't look like she was going to stop soon. Her face was a mask of rage as she beat the career's face in. I didn't dare stop her as blood splashed from the career's mouth and onto the ground, on Rayne's clothes, and on his own clothes.

I don't know how much time passed before Rayne stopped beating on his face, but by the time she was done, the left side of the young career's face was a bloody mess.

I watched Rayne get off of his body before walking to the side of his body, placing her right foot on the left side of his body before bending down and grabbing his right wrist with both her hands before she pulled his arm towards her and I heard an audible snap. Rayne had cruelly broken the career's neck by twisting his head and right arm at the same time in opposite directions.

As Rayne let of the career's arm and let her foot of his head, a cannon fired in the distance to signal the death of the first career tribute.

**District Six's Rayne Page's POV**

Breathe. Breathe. In and out. In and out. He was dead now, I could relax now. The world around me started to spin around as I started to feel dizzy. I lost my balance and fell on my butt, that was how tired as was. But as I laid my body down, I realized that tiredness wasn't the only thing catching up to me, areas of my body were also starting to hurt like crazy. My body already hurt, but pain appeared in areas there were previously unhurt, and the areas that were hurting only started to hurt more.

Oh man, was it the adrenaline? If it was, it was a lousy time for it to stop coursing through my body. The pain I was feeling was immense. And all I could do was lay here and wait for it all to disappear.

"Rayne!" I heard my ally shout before the world around me turned green, black, and white. "Rayne! Are you awake?"

"Just barely." I managed to say to her. Honestly, I didn't feel too good right now. I heard fabric being ripped before I faintly felt something being wrapped around my leg, in the place where that bastard had bit me. "You?" How was she doing, I had seen that she had taken a few hits from that guy as well.

"I'm fine." She told me. "That should help." I heard Life say before I thought of something.

"My machete." I said to her. I don't know if it was the best thing to think of right now, but I wasn't about to leave my weapon behind.

I heard Life leave me for a minute before she returned with my bladed weapon. "Hey Life," I said to my ally. I saw her look at me before I continued "bring me to that career."

"Why?" I heard her ask with confusion on her face.

"I want to do something." I told her

A/N: Ah man, I haven't undated all year!

So what did you guys think of this epic fight. Too long? Not enough detail? If you liked it, there's more of that coming later.

So what are your guys favorite alliance?

Who's your favorite loner?

Couples, if you could, which tributes would you like to have a romance? (I don't care how odd or ridiculous they are, these questions are for fun.)

None of your answers affect the story if you answer.

**16th place: Shoney Germoal. Snapped by Rayne.**


	29. Food and weapons

**Day 3. Mid Night. **

**District Eleven's Angel Hale's POV**

I saw it tonight. Now we know what we feared was true. When that cannon fired this morning, it told us that Sami was dead. Just like we feared. Before Aerin headed off to sleep and I was stationed to guard the camp tonight for the first little while, we saw the District Four male's picture glow in the sky above us, following that came Sami's picture. At that moment, we knew that Sami was no longer lost in the jungle, or out looking for food, though we thought that long ago. But still, we hoped that she wasn't and was looking for us after we moved camp.

Sami and I weren't on the best of terms before she died, but I wish I could tell her that I didn't hate her. I wonder if she knew that. People told me that I act like a smart ass when I don't really need to, but I can't help it sometimes. I now wonder if Sami knew that I didn't hate her, I liked her as an ally, she was beginning to grow on me now that she started talking a bit more then she did at the beginning of all this. She was becoming less and less shy. I should have told her that I was sorry for all the times I was rude to her. Sorry Sami, I know it's too late now, but still, sorry.

Looking at the surrounding jungle around us, I didn't like it as much as our other camping spot. For one, this didn't have too many clear spaces, it was clear enough I guess, but in my opinion, if we needed to run, there were too many things in our way, such as the bushes and logs that were lying ahead of us. But this was just a temporary place until we find something better, so I should just deal with it for a bit, until morning, that's when we'll move again. Hopefully.

I didn't like that I was standing guard, especially now that it was past sundown. The temperature was at it's freezing cold level, and I was shivering and my teeth chattering, even with all my pieces of clothes on. It made me wonder if I could even get through the night without freezing my ass off and dying. I wanted to be in my sleeping bag and still guard the camp, but if someone did attack us, I'd have to get my body out of the sleeping bag before I could even get a change to defend the camp or myself. That sleeping bag was fatal, but I wanted nothing more then to be in it.

But I couldn't do that, Aerin was really upset about not being able to protect Sami, I didn't want him to worry about protecting me, though in a way, I kind of liked that he was so worried about me. It made me feel, happy inside.

I gave out a sigh before looking back up, and seeing blood red eyes in front of me.

**District Five's Alexander Natas's POV**

"Hey there little girl." I said to the startled District Eleven girl before punching her in the face. She fell back and landed on the ground with a thud. She looked like she was going to get back up, I wasn't going to let her. I slammed my right foot into her stomach before kneeling my right knee down into her throat. She looked like she was trying to scream for help, but with my knee on her throat, she could barely make a sound louder then a gasp. This was too easy, I can't believe that it was so easy to sneak up on her. I could hear her from a long way away, she was shivering to herself, and I guess she couldn't control the volume of her voice. She was easy to find too.

I saw her right hand reach for something at her hip, but I grabbed her wrist with my left hand and twisted her wrist as she grabbed the object she was going for. I looked over to see what she was holding, to see something wonderful, a seven inch long survival knife. Thank you for showing it to me, I couldn't have found it without you.

I continued to twist her wrist until her hand could no longer hold the hilt of the blade and it dropped from her grasp. I heard the weapon fall to the ground with a light thud before I swung my right hand as far left as it could go before giving the District Eleven girl an open handed back slap to the face. She let out a quiet grunt of pain before I picked the knife up with my left hand and held it up in front of me.

The weapon was beautiful, it was perfectly crafted by experts to become a deadly weapon. It was sharp and dangerous. Clean and wonderful. It was deadly yet beautiful. Oh yeah, this was great. Her ally's weapon was a piece of crap compared to this. With this knife, I could do so much more then with some half assed arrows. "Thank you for the gift," I said to my prey "you really are an Angel." I heard her gasp something at me, it sounded angry, but I couldn't really tell for sure if it was anger coming from her, it was a gasp plus a grunt, maybe it was her just being desperate for air. Hmmm, was I pressing too hard? I didn't want her to die yet. I needed a thing or two from her first.

I decided to get this thing going by asking her the first thing I wanted to know. "Where's Aerin?" I asked her. If I could get rid of Aerin, this little bitch would be nothing, Aerin was the real threat of the alliance, kill him, the rest'll go down like helpless little bugs. Plus, how good would it feel to kill an entire alliance single handedly? Pretty damn good I'm guessing.

I released some pressure off of her throat before hearing her inhale deeply. I pressed my knee back down on her throat before hissing at her "not so loudly, I know your game, don't think that you can get him with me around here." She was probably breathing loudly to try and get the attention of Aerin, I didn't want that yet.

The girl gasped again before I repeated myself. "Not so loudly, or do I have to make you be quiet by sewing your mouth shut?" I didn't actually have a needle and thread with me at the moment, but the threat did it's job as I could see fear fill her eyes. I liked that look on her, it suited her. "Now let me ask you again, where's Aerin." I lifted my knee off her throat again before she started to take in nice, shallow, quiet breathes of air. Good, she's learning, I would hate to cut that mouth of her's up at the moment. I waited a couple seconds before she looked like she was going to start screaming for help.

"Oh no you don't." I told her as I pressed my knee back on her throat before she could scream even the first letter of what she was going to scream. She tried to warn Aerin when I told her not to. Guess she didn't think I was serious, well I'll show her. I moved the knife from my left hand to my right before I bent my back forwards and started to carve some letters into her forehead. "B." I said out loud as cut the letters into her head. Blood started to lightly spill from her wounds. They were deep enough to leave scars, but not deep enough to kill her. It'd cause a lot of pain, but that was the point. Her gasps grew ragged as I carved the letters on her forehead. "I. T. C. H." I looked her in the eyes and told her "that spells bitch, now unless you want more permanent tattoos, I suggest you cooperate with me." I placed the knife between my waist band and belt. I wasn't going to use the knife for a bit. "Where. Is. Aerin?" I lifted my knee off her throat yet again before I heard her take in those little raggedy breathes of hers.

I waited for a couple seconds before she answered quietly.

"Somewhere where your not going to find him."

"Wrong answer." I told her before pressing my knee down on her throat "you see, I'm going to find him one way or another, in the meantime, I just like hurting you, so tell me where he is so you can stop being hurt." The truth was though, even when she tells me, I have no intention of not harming her any more. And I was going to find Aerin eventually, everyone has a breaking point, no matter how tough you are, you have a breaking point. That orange haired girl had a breaking point, I just didn't want to hear her answers, I just wanted to get my frustration out. She was a substitute for Valerie, nothing more. I wasn't going to let that get in the way again, this was business now, not personal. But it was still fun. "I'll ask again, where is he?"

I released my knee from her throat before she gave out little breathes of air.

"I'll never, tell you." She gasped. I pressed my knee on her throat again before smiling at her.

"Oh you'll tell me, wither you want to or not." I pulled my knife out before setting it to the ground beside me. I wasn't going to use it yet, it was too soon. Instead, I was going to do something the orphanage back in District Five had showed, and done to me on more then one occasion. I grabbed the front center of by belt and began to unbuckle it. Her eyes went so wide with fear that it was comical. I unbuckled the belt and pulled it off my pants before looking at the young girl. "You want to say something?" I asked before releasing pressure on her neck.

"Don't." She gasped in fear. "Don't."

"Don't what?" I asked wondering what she was thinking. Did the same thing happen back to her in District Eleven? If so, she should be afraid, be very afraid, I wasn't going to be as gentle as them.

"Don't rape-" I sighed with disbelief and light laughter as I pressed my knee on her throat again.

"You would want that wouldn't you," I told her with a little laugh "I mean, that's what you think of when I take this off?" I said while folding the belt in half once. Then twice. What this girl said was so funny it amused me. "Man, I bet you beg people to rape you in the street because your such a little slut. And the men, well, the men can't resist you because of your giant breasts." Thinking about sex, giant breasts, yep, she was a slut. "Anyway, no, I'm not going to rape you if that's what you wanted. Well, you can't call it rape if you enjoy it. But anyway, I'm going to do something else."

I raised the belt that was folded in half twice and slammed the buckle down on the left side of her face with an audible smack. It was quiet, but it sounded like it would hurt. The belt was sturdy and heavy, and so was the buckle. It was a lot stronger then the one's back in the orphanage, so she was feeling more pain then the rest of us back in District Five when we got punished in the orphanage. Though for me, that was almost everyday. Not that I cared though, they always wanted to punish me one way or another. I could take it, but could she?

I stuck her once. Twice. Three times before pulling my knee off her throat and allowed her to breathe a little. "That's what three strikes feels like, want to go for more? I'll keep hitting you till your face bleeds. I'll keep hitting you till your face is mush. I'll cut you and scar you with a something blunt, so it tears you skin away rather then cuts. So tell me, where is Aerin."

"Up your sorry fucking ass." She answered with hatred. Oh, a tough girl huh? This was going to be fun. I pressed my knee onto her throat again before I hit her over the left side of her face another ten times. Blood was beginning to spill from her face after the tenth strike. Only a little, just a scratch, but this girl probably couldn't stand the sight of her own blood.

"Don't try and be tough, your orange haired ally tried to be tough," I told her as she seemed to listen to every word with curiosity "I tried to get your location from her, but she didn't give it, she tried to act tough as I cut her a thousand times with those shitty spearhead arrows of hers. By the end, she was crying her eyes out, she was weak and bloody, she had pissed herself from fear and pain. It was beautiful, you should have been there, you would have liked it. How'd you like the body? You want to become like that?" Ok, so maybe I put in a little lie in there, but the rest was still true.

She refused to answer, so I hit her in the face with the belt buckle another ten times. The wounds on her face started to get bigger, deeper, bloodier. They still weren't that bad, but soon, her face was going to be torn off if she didn't give up soon. Though, I kind of hope she doesn't give in, I wanted to continue hurting her. See how far she can go. Aerin was asleep somewhere, and he wouldn't wake till morning, by the time he comes out of his hiding spot, this girl will be unrecognizable. That was a good thought, Aerin seeing his other ally all messed up. It would kill him.

I leaned forwards to make her look into my eyes. The red eyes that everyone feared. "No God is going to protect his Angel here."

"Well I'll take his place." A voice shouted at surprisingly close range. I looked to my left, where the voice was coming from, only to see a fist fly towards my face.

Bright coloured stars exploded in front of my face before I felt myself fall to the ground. My face stung from whoever had just punched me. I held my face in pain. Something grabbed the front of my light jacket before forcefully lifting me to my feet. I attacked with my belt, but my enemy's fist beat me to the second attack. More stars exploded in my vision. I felt my body fall back, by whoever was holding my jacket held on, and kept me from falling. I felt my body move forwards again before I felt another fist to the face. I reeled back again, before being pulled forwards, I felt hands grab the back of my head, and felt something hard and pointed slam into the center of my face before falling down to the ground. Hard.

Fuck, whoever this was, was powerful, this hurt like hell. I stood up quickly and shook my head to clear my sight. I opened my eyes to see steel flying towards me at a terrifying speed. I arched my back away from the blade, but fell on my ass as the blade sailed high above my head. There was a tree behind me, and I heard the blade slice through it's bark like it offered little resistance. This guy was strong, fast, and had a weapon while I was weapon less. I'd be a fool to try and face him or her at the moment.

I rolled away from my opponent to try and get away from him or her, only to feel fire rip across my mid back. I shouted in pain as I stumbled to my feet and ran into the forest clearing as fast as I could. I shouldn't have taken off the belt, I should have cut her face open with the knife. I shouldn't have played around with her. Damn it.

**District Eleven's Aerin Sevani's POV**

The white haired tribute got away. It's not like I wanted him to get away, I wanted to get him for hurting Angel. I woke up from a nightmare, I saw those empty fields again, all those dead fields and those dead trees. I saw all those black crows that thrived on the death of District Eleven before yet again, worrying for my family. I raced to our house, only to see them shot by the head peacekeeper, yet again.

After I woke up, I didn't want to go back to sleep, so I decided to take over the night watch a bit early. I went over to Angel, only to see that guy on top of her and was beating her across the face with a belt. I rushed over as fast as I could to get him off her. And I did, I slammed my fist into his face, which made him fall off her instantly. He landed on the ground and held his face in pain. I walked up to him and grabbed him by the jacket before pulling him up to his feet. He tried attack me with the slightly bloody belt, but my fist was faster then his belt. I slammed him in the face with my right hand while holding onto him with my left. I punched him twice before reaching behind his head, and pulling it forwards so that my right knee could slam into his face.

He fell to the ground as I reached for my knife. I always kept it with me, I'm pretty sure all the tributes keep at least some weapon on them, even when their asleep, I'm no different. Someone could attack in the middle of the night, just like now.

He managed to get to his feet as I pulled the knife out of it's sheath. I swung the knife at his face, but he fell to the ground and I missed. I cut some of the tree bark behind him, but I didn't cut into it too deeply, that made it easy for the knife to slice through it before I did another horizontal slash to the white haired boy, and I managed to cut his back. Droplets of blood flew from his wound as he ran into the surrounding jungle. He was too afraid to face me.

I took a couple quick steps to chase after him, but I felt something grab me from behind. Was it another enemy?

"Don't go." A girl's voice begged. "Please. Don't leave me." I instantly calmed down as I realized that it wasn't just me and the white haired boy around here, there was the person I was trying to protect, my ally.

Stupid. I was stupid. I was going to go after someone and leave her, the one he had attacked behind. Alone. I let go of my knife as I realized that I was about to send one or more of the three of us into a death sentence, because of my stupid mistake. Because I let my anger take over.

I gently placed my hands on my ally's and turned my body around to see that the left half of her face was bruised in some places, and skin was cut in some other places. Blood was on the wounded part of her face, and it was mixing with tears as she cried from those green eyes of hers. The word bitch was cut into her forehead. Blood was running out of those wounds as well. It made me angry at myself for almost running into the jungle. For almost leaving her alone. For not watching over her enough. Just like how I didn't watch over Sami enough.

I failed with Sami. I wasn't going to fail with my district partner. If they wanted her, they'd have to watch out for me.

It's ok now." I told Angel "I'm not leaving. It's safe now." Angel responded by crying some more and burying her head into my chest. I placed my hands around her to make her feel safe.

Right now, she reminded me of the first time my younger sister, Cassie, got punished by the peacekeepers. Even though she was only five years old at the time, the peacekeepers treated her like everyone else. They gave her seventy lashes with their whip before letting my mom, my dad, my two brothers, my older sister, and I, take her to the doctor. Her punishment? Taking a bite out of a piece of fruit that was supposed to go to the Capital. She knew better, but she was hungry, and they punished her for that.

She cried her eyes out for hours. She begged me not to go until she was feeling better. So I stayed. I stayed as long as I could before the doctor gave her something to let her sleep before sending me back to work.

Then the present came back, and I was holding Angel. "It's alright." I told her again.

**District Ten's Life Lee's POV**

"Come on Rayne," I told the girl that I was practically dragging to our shelter "it's not that much farther." Rayne was getting really weak, not that I could blame her, she took a lot more hits then I did when fighting that District Four career. I was tired, fighting was harder then I thought, a lot more painful, and a lot more tiring. Pain was coming out of nowhere to hit me in waves, places on my body previously unhurt started to hurt as time passed, and the places that originally hurt were getting worse.

I looked back to the District Four boy, I looked back on what his name was. Shoney, that was his name, Shoney, the career who acted nice and careless during the interviews, like he didn't have much of a care in the world, like everything was going to be alright in the end. It obviously hasn't turned out that way for him now, his neck snapped by Rayne. His life was over now.

After his death, Rayne asked me to take her over to his body. I wondered what she was going to do, so I took her to him. I placed her next to him. Then watched Rayne raise her machete and cut his arms off. She cut his arms from the shoulders before wiping her blade clean on his clothes.

"That's our food," Rayne told me not seeming to care that not only did she take away this boy's life, but also his arms after death. "His arms are our food, those mockingjays won't last us long." I felt sorry for the boy, but I wasn't about to argue with Rayne, after all, she was right, those mockingjays wouldn't last us long.

"Did you really have to do that?" I asked, even though I didn't want to argue with her, it's just that, doing that to someone after their dead.

"It's either that or starve." Rayne told me. "Now pick up these arms and let's get back to base."

Rayne then struggled to get to her feet, but she managed. I took the thick jacket off of Shoney's body, thank god that Rayne cut inside and around the jacket arms instead of through it, and placed it around her body before picking up the chopped off arms. Rayne's leg, the one that was bit, was struggling over just the weight of her body. It wasn't that bad, but I could see her limping painfully. I placed the chopped off arms, that were still warm and bleeding from the shoulders, under my left armpit and wrapped my right arm around Rayne's back while getting her left arm to go over my shoulders. I couldn't just watch her struggle to get herself from one place to the other so painfully. Sure it was only a limp, but it looked painful for Rayne to walk each other step.

The farther we walked away from the fight scene, the weaker Rayne became. Her feet began to drag on the ground and she seemed like she wanted to pass out.

"Come on Rayne," I told her encouragingly "It's not that much farther."

No response from Rayne. Did she pass out? I looked over to her and saw that her head was down, eyes were closed, and she wasn't moving her body on her own, the only movements that she made were the ones that I made her body do by carrying the upper part of her body and dragging her lower body.

I wished that Rayne would have stayed awake for just a couple more minutes, at least until we got back to our building, but, what can I do? I felt a fraction of Rayne's pain, and I can't blame her for going to sleep. Since your asleep Rayne, I hope you sleep well. Get better.

I continued to drag my ally to the building we were staying in, until we got to it's entrance. Thank god we're here and nothing came after us, it would have really sucked if another tribute found us in this state. Rayne, the fighter of the group was unconscious, and I wasn't in the best state to defend myself. I had weapons, Rayne's machete, Shoney's dagger, and a blowgun with two darts, but would I be able to put up much of a fight? In my state, I doubted it.

I was exhausted by the time I got to the building we were hiding in, believe it or not, it's hard work dragging a person after a fight, even if it's a thin girl like Rayne. I was thankful that nobody, or nothing had attacked us on our way back here.

Ready to set Rayne down in the building and go to sleep myself, I opened the door to the building, and came face to face with another tribute not two feet away.

I felt my breath leave my body as fear filled my body. I saw the ax in his hand and panicked. I let go of Rayne and pulled out the dagger I had taken from Shoney, I didn't really know how to use it very well, but it was a weapon, and I had to defend myself. I raised the dagger to attack my foe, only to see his ax come swiftly at my face. I thrust the dagger at him, only to feel a violent vibration in my right hand before hearing a loud thunk beside my head.

The boy had missed! Now was my chance! I lunged at him, only to feel hands press against my face. He was trying to keep me back! I swung my arms at him to try and hit him, only to hit air. I then grabbed his arms and tried to force them off of me, but they wouldn't come off my face easily. I then decided to punch his elbows, and did that. I struck his elbows, and they flew up in the air before I jumped at him and hit him in the face. My fist struck him in the face before he staggered back a couple steps. I reeled my fist back to strike him again, but then I saw a flash of steel in front of me. I didn't move forward fearing that I'd get cut. The bright steel stopped just before it touched my throat. I was scared, was he going to kill me? No, if he was he'd have pressed the blade of that ax into my throat and killed me already. Why didn't he kill me? That confused me.

I looked up, and saw someone familiar, someone that I had tried to get into our alliance back in the Capital. "You." I said as I looked at Bo Heatherfield. His skin was dirty, his body was thinner then it was before, back when we were in the Capital, his blond hair had dirt and cobwebs in it, and his blue eyes were scared. Why was he scared? He was the one that almost killed me. "What are you doing here?" I asked the District Seven boy that didn't stand up to the District Two careers back in the training center. Bo looked embarrassed as he shyly pulled out food from his left, light jacket pocket. The food he pulled out of his pocket were the two mockingjays that Rayne had killed before cooking.

Bo looked at the food with hungry eyes before looking back at me with a look in his eyes, a look that made me think of a child that had been caught by his mother when he shouldn't have been doing something. I kind of felt sorry for him right now.

Bo held out the birds to me, like he was returning something that was stolen from us. Well, in a way, he had stolen them from us, if I hadn't arrived when I had, he would be out there running away with those birds.

This boy was two different people in my opinion. During training, he was a shy guy who couldn't, wouldn't, defend himself against the District Two careers until I stuck up for him. Back then, and right now, he reminded me of some helpless kid, like my late sister, Faerie. Or more recently, my friend Laurel. Or maybe every other kid back in District Ten. Hungry, and helpless.

The other Bo I saw was at the interview, that Bo still didn't speak, but he made himself appear lethal by making killing jesters with his body. He acted like he was someone that you didn't want to mess with in the arena. He then scored an eight, a score that was rivaled only the career pack, and Aerin Sevani from District Eleven. At the time, I wondered which Bo was faking, and which one was real.

I looked at the Bo in front of me now, and didn't see the Bo that could kill someone like they were nothing, what I saw now was a scared, and hungry boy. "Keep them." I told him. I didn't want him to be hungry, like how I didn't want anyone to be hungry. Like those kids back home in District Ten, I'd like to feed them as well, but I can't, I can hardly feed myself and Laurel. But here in the arena, there were only the twenty four of us, nine of which were dead now. Fifteen, fifteen were left alive now. And one of them was in front of me now. "Keep it." I told him "we've got some more food for ourselves." I didn't want to tell him that the arms that I had dropped on the ground was our food now that he had taken our birds. I also hoped that he didn't see them as well, I didn't want him to think that we were cannibals.

Bo looked at me with a bit of wonder before he put the birds back into his pocket. I then saw the blade of his ax move away from my neck as he backed up away from me. He wasn't going to kill me here and now, and I was thankful for that, all he wanted was food, and I gave him some, we were on good terms with each other. For now I guess, who knows what it'll be like if we meet each other later on.

I turned my back to him before crouching down and picking up the bloody arms and stuck them into my light jacket, out of sight from wondering eyes before moving towards Rayne. I picked her up again and started to drag her across the room to a spot that I thought was appropriate for her to rest in. There wasn't too many places that might be good for someone in her shape, but I think near the fire should be a good place. The fire, maybe that's how Shoney and Bo found us. Maybe I should put it out.

I looked back up to see that Bo was still here. "I'm not going to stop you from leaving if that's what your thinking," I told him wondering if that's why he wasn't leaving "as I told you already, I've got more food with me."

He continued to look at me, like he wasn't sure what to do. Then I saw him toss the ax he was holding towards me, and watched it sail through the air until it landed several inches away from me. I looked at the ax for several seconds before looking back to the boy who had thrown it at me. He gave of the slightest trace of what might have been a smile before turning around and walking out the door of the building and closing it behind him. Weird.

An ax, the only weapon I was good at, and he had given it to me. Was it because of the food? Did he think that he had to trade in something? Either way, I'm not complaining. Heck, I didn't even expect this. I looked back down and picked up my new weapon. The small ax had a good weight to it, it was light with most of the weight on the weapon end. The wooden handle was smooth as glass. I ran my index finger along the blade and felt it's sharpness, it was sharp as a razor. This weapon was in excellent shape, I liked it. Thanks Bo. I like our trade.

**Day 3.** **Late Night.**

**District Four's Evaline "Eva" Ellery's POV**

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. This was so frustrating, how hard could it be to find it? Maybe they didn't have it here. That would really suck. I mean, I ran away from the career pack, I couldn't go back even if I wanted to, they'd kill me.

I saw Shoney's picture in the sky earlier, I hoped that the other careers didn't find out he helped a traitor like me before killing him, if so, his death would be my fault. I hoped that wasn't the case.

I sighed at my feeble adventure. It was getting late, I better-

I felt my feet lose balance before I started to fall down a hill. My body started to roll uncontrollably and my world turned every which way every second. Several areas of my body started to hurt because of my tumbling, especially my head. I didn't want to fall anymore. I reached my arms out and started to claw the earth to at least slow myself down and hope that I wasn't heading towards the edge of a cliff.

Fear started to spread through my body as I thought of the cliff. I didn't want to die. I had to live. I sank my fingers deeper into the earth, and felt the various items in the earth tear at my fingers. It was painful, but I wasn't about to die, not now.

After what seemed like forever, I finally stopped tumbling down that hill, and landed on solid ground. Oh thank god. I wasn't dead. I felt like crying from joy. But then I felt the pain in my fingers. It hurt so much, it felt like the skin had been ripped off. Now I felt like crying in pain. But at least I was alive, what more could I ask for right now.

I placed my hands under my armpits to help with the pain before looking up, and seeing something wonderful. In front of me was a body of water, a lake. Oh my god! I found it! I found what I was looking for! Suddenly, I didn't feel so bad anymore.

A/N: Sorry if Eva's part feels off or something.

I liked all your suggestions for shipping pairs, expect the Alex x Tharizdun, sorry, I'm not a fan of male X male pairs, but I still laughed at it so hard.

Wow, a lot of things happened on night three huh.

I know this is really, really late, but, happy new year's everyone. I was supposed to say that one chapter ago.


	30. Rain

**Day 4. Early morning.**

**District Nine's Arrowe Winter's POV**

I woke up to the raising sun that shone brightly over my tent, just like I've been doing for the past three mornings in the arena and the last eighteen years of my life back home. Back home, the sun was our alarm clock as well, we woke up at mid sunrise everyday and went to either work or school depending on how old you were. It was daily routine for me to wake up with the sun everyday, it was the best during winter when the sun didn't rise as early as the rest of the seasons. I liked the winter because that's when you got to sleep in the most, no sunrise no waking up unless you wanted to. Plus, my last name was Winter, so it only added to the effect of me liking the winter, it was our family name.

I opened my eyes and stretched my body out as my internal clock registered the time outside by the warmth and brightness of the sun, it was like a sixth sense to my body, and right now, my body told me that it was time to wake up. Strange thing was, I didn't feel tired or anything when I woke up. Even during the summer season when the sun rises the earliest I didn't feel tired. I still wanted to sleep, but my body knew that it was time to get up, so that's what I did.

When I finished stretching, I unzipped my sleeping bag before throwing the top of the sleeping bag off my body and grabbed my brown hiking boots before slipping them onto my feet, tied them up, then exited the tent to face the day. I did everything that I would have done back home; wake up, stretch, then go have some breakfast with my family who were also just waking up at the same time as I was. Things were different here though, instead of waking up in my room and seeing the ceiling, I saw the light green fabric of a tent, and instead of seeing the insides of my house when I walked out of the tent, I saw a dense jungle that could hold any kind of danger that you could think of. Instead of meeting my family, I meet my allies, the careers. Instead of everyone just waking up with me, the careers were already wide awake and working hard. Shoney had told me that each one of the careers woke up before sunrise to begin morning training and exercises everyday.

Shoney. When his picture showed up in the sky last night, three of the big four told me that Shoney wasn't much of a career and said that we were better off without him. I don't know if they really thought that this year's District Four tributes weren't that career like, or if they just didn't like District Four to begin with. Maybe it was the former, Eva was reaped, and that doesn't go well with the volunteers from what I saw. And maybe Shoney didn't do everything that was expected of a career. I don't know, I'm not from a career district. I'm going to miss Shoney though, it's not going to be the same without him, the big four were serious tributes and Shoney was the exception to the group of careers when Eva left. Well, except for Tharizdun and I since we weren't careers.

Turning around the corner of my tent, I saw Griffin, Lucifer, Howl and Lynsa training in their various ways, every morning I'd see them do push ups, sit ups, archery, knife throwing, hand to hand combat and more, they used the mornings to train, only breaking to eat or drink something from one of the many food crates around the cornucopia. They did that every morning from what I've seen, wake up before me and train until it was time to go out and hunt the other tributes.

I looked at my allies and saw how they were working their asses off with their training, no wonder they get eights, nines and tens for training scores. Most people back in the district wouldn't watch the games this early unless something interesting was happening here in the arena, it was their days off, they were taking it easy. If they could see what I'm seeing now, they would say that the careers had earned their names as careers. Griffin and Lucifer, Howl and Lynsa, even Shoney and Eva put lots of effort into their training. Hell, even if the others didn't think highly of her, I thought that it took a lot of discipline for Eva to get up before sunrise and train, I've never woken up before sunrise in my life, so Eva, wither the others acknowledged it or not, was a career. Reaped or not, she was a career to me. I'm just surprised that Lynsa could wake up and train before sunrise, she seemed anxious at when it was dark.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the only tribute out of place, Tharizdun. Tharizdun wasn't doing anything, all he was doing was staring into the jungle. I didn't know what he was thinking, but after seeing him do what he did to his own district partner, I had a pretty good idea on what he might be thinking. Had he been out here all night? He had to sleep sometime, he wasn't immune to basic human needs, no matter how many times he said he was a god or whatever.

I decided to ignore Tharizdun and decided to go over to the food crates and have some breakfast. That's what I normally did in the morning, and its what I've done while in the arena, why stop now?

"Hey Arrowe!" I heard someone shout at me. I turned towards the voice to see that it was Lucifer that had shouted at me. What did he want? All I was doing was getting breakfast. "Get over here!" He shouted while doing get over here gestures.

"Why?" I shouted towards him. He never called me over during the career morning practice, why was he doing it now?

"Train with us!" I heard Lynsa shout. I turned my head towards her to see her holding a bow with an arrow already notched and ready to be shot at whatever her target was. I saw her pull the arrow back before she released it and let the arrow shot towards its target. Before I knew it, the arrow Lynsa had shot had hit the center of a pillow case that was pinned up on the side of the cornucopia with a knife.

"Nice shot." I told her thinking of her deadly accuracy. I feel sorry for the poor tribute on the other end of that arrow. I then saw a flash of steel fly in the same direction Lynsa's arrow had flown to before hearing the sound of wood splitting before hearing the sudden sound of a thunk of steel on steel. I then saw that a throwing knife had sliced through the arrow and pierced itself into the cornucopia.

I looked to the only knife thrower in the group to see the little twelve year old girl wearing that arrogant smirk of hers. Ok, you're talented, you don't need to show off every chance you get.

"Nice shot to you too." I told Howl thinking of her combination of accuracy and poisoned weapons, if you didn't die by her accuracy you'd die by her poisons if you didn't get cured fast.

"So Arrowe," I heard Lucifer shouted to get my attention. It worked, I turned my attention away from the two girls and turned towards him. "What do you want to train on?" Hmm, I don't really know, there were things that I wanted to improve on, but which one to start with.

"I'd like to work on spears." I told him thinking of how bad I was with spears. I was also bad with arrows, which was kind ironic because of my name, but I'm more of a close range fighter then a long ranger fighter, so spears it was.

"None of us are really good with spears," Lucifer told me truthfully "but, let's see what we can do for you." Well, any help'll do, and I'm positive that you've trained with them more then I have.

"Thanks," I told him anticipating the lesson he was willing to give me "lets give it a try."

***One hour later***

Was this how careers normally trained? God it was intense, they really don't play around with it, they take it very seriously. I haven't been training very long, only for about an hour or so, and I'm already feeling the effects of their training. My arms and shoulders were sore from the intense workout that they just went through. Lucifer had shown me basic thrusts, blocks and parries and I felt myself getting better with each lesson he gave me. My arms and shoulders weren't the only parts of my body hurting though, Lucifer and I had done some weapon sparing, and even though he claimed that he wasn't skilled in spears, he was still better then I was. Let me say that during our sparing matches, he doesn't hold back his strength on the strikes he delivers. My stomach, chest, sides, thighs, and face all hurt from the blunt strikes of the headless spear he hit me with. I'm glad that the spear head was removed, otherwise I'd have died several times in the last hour. The careers were tough and skilled, no wonder they win the games most of the time.  
"Not bad," Lucifer told me as he relaxed his arms and let his grip on the spear get loose. "Your improving."  
"Am I?" I asked wondering if that was true, I haven't even landed a single strike on him.  
"Sure, when you first started you couldn't even hold a spear properly." The first thing he had told me was that I was holding the spear wrong, I didn't even know that there was a right way to hold one, but after he showed me how to grip and position my hand properly, my attacks were a little faster. It felt weird holding the spear the way he told me to, but who was I to say that he was wrong?

"I still think that it feels wrong." I told my instructor thinking of how it felt wrong.

"That's cause your mind is set on holding it the way you want too." He explained to me. "Lets say that I've been holding this spear like you have for years," he said as he changed his hand grip on the spear's body. "For me, since I've held it different for most of my life, this position feels strange, so I know how you feel. But with the way your holding it," Lucifer then did a series of thrusts that, while still looking fast, looked different from the way that he had previously spear thrust before. "See how I needed to put some moving effort into thrusting the spear?"

"I do now." I told him only just realizing it now that I saw and heard him say about it. I then saw Lucifer do a simple overhead block with the spear and saw that he had to turn his body way more then he normally did to get the same block.

"See how much more effort that it?" He asked. I nodded telling him that I saw it. "Now with this kind of hand grip." He said before changing the position of his hands before doing a series of thrusts with what looked like little effort before doing an overhead block without moving his body too much. "See the difference?" He asked.

"I see it," I told him "my old style takes more effort and more movements to make the same move."

"Correct." Lucifer told me before lowering his spear. "Now that you've learned some basic stuff on something that you couldn't use before, you want to work on some stuff that your good at but you want to improve on before we go out looking for other tributes? Some sword training with these wooden swords that Griffin made for training?"

"Some machete training would be nice." I told him. I learned how to use spears from him, maybe I could learn some things about using machetes from him. We grew wheat back home and a machete was one of the district's tools of choice. That's where I picked up my knife and machete skills, if you could even call it skills. I knew how to use them, but could I use them good enough against someone that could also use their weapons as well as the careers? Like District Seven with their axes or that Rayne Page with whatever her weapon of choice was. Maybe, I'm not sure.

"Machete training it is." Lucifer stated before I felt something light and wet hit me on the top of my head. What the? What was that? I looked up towards the sky to feel another wet thing hit my face. Then suddenly, without any warning what so ever, it started to rain. Now I knew that this wasn't natural rain, natural rain come gradually, and even at its fastest it doesn't come down as sudden as this downpour. This was a gamemaker trick for sure.

"Whoo!" I heard Lucifer holler out happily. "Yeah! It's about time!" What was he so happy about? It's just rain. Haven't you ever seen rain before? I looked over to him to see what he was so excited about when I saw him pull his t-shirt off before throwing it on to a nearby crate. I then saw his hands reach down towards his pants before I looked away, horrified at what I was going to see next if I didn't look away.

"Jesus Christ dude!" I shouted, shocked at what he was doing "don't you have any shame?" He was taking his clothes off in front of everyone! Even in front of the girls, and they weren't too far away either.

"What?" Lucifer shouted innocently "what's wrong with you? I'm just taking a shower."  
"He doesn't want to look at your ugly body!" I heard Howl shout out "that's what!"  
"Come on dude!" I shouted wondering if Lucifer had any shame what so ever. Normal people don't just strip off their clothes when it rains. "What's wrong with you? Stripping off your clothes in front of everyone, especially the girls." Especially them, most guys wouldn't want to be stared at when their naked.

"Oh their fine with it, back home, the boys and girls all shower in one room." What!? They do that in the career districts? I turned to Lynsa.

"Is that true Lynsa?" I asked her wondering if Lucifer was joking or not. I sure hoped that it was a joke.

"No it's not," Lynsa answered with some uncomfort in her voice "we don't do that at home."  
"Guess it's a District Two thing." Lucifer told us as I heard him throw something away, most likely his pants. How could he act so calmly around here while being naked was beyond me, but he was probably used to it if what he said was really true.

"Guess I'll be having a rain shower as well." I heard Howl say as she started to grab the bottom of her shirt.

"Shouldn't the boys and girls be divided while showering?" I heard myself suddenly say. That would be the logical thing to do, I mean, the guys and the girls had separate things back home, and it was considered a crime to go into a girl's place back home.

"I think that would be a good idea." Lynsa quickly agreed. I think she was just as uncomfortable with the idea of mixed genders showering together as I was.

"Whatever you want," Lucifer announced. He didn't seem to care wither we were divided or not. "Guys take this side of the cornucopia, you girls can go on the other side if you want." Go there I thought, if I want to have a shower I at least won't expose myself to the opposite gender.

"We'll go, thanks." Lynsa said before I saw the two girls go around the horn before eventually going out of sight.

"So, you joining us Arrowe?" I heard Lucifer ask me when the girls were out of sight.

"I don't think so." I told him turning around to face him and was careful not to look at the lower area of his body. I now saw that Griffin had joined him in taking a shower, his clothes were in the process of being taken off. I didn't like thinking about showing my stuff to other guys, and looking at their upper areas now, I could see that they were all muscular. I was strong, but they looked more built then I was, both Griffin and Lucifer had muscular bodies and six pack abs with bruises that came from their days of recent training. I wasn't in the same shape they were in.

"Oh come on!" Lucifer shouted, wanting me to join the party "we're not going to judge you on the size of your stuff. We're not even going to look if that's what your afraid off."

I laughed a little inside my head. I was part of the career pack, they did things that I wouldn't do back home. You know what, I didn't need to be afraid of what they were doing, they were doing it too, and right in front of me at that. You know, what the heck, I'll join them.  
I then peeled off my wet clothes and ran over to join them.

**District One's Lynsa Fylar's POV**

"Do the guys and girls really shower together in District Two?" I asked Howl curiously as we were peeling our wet clothes off while hearing the guys on the other side hollering with laughter. Well, at least two of the guys, Griffin being himself, wasn't saying anything at all.

"Oh yeah," she told me not feeling the least bit embarrassed about it. I know that if I were in the showering room as the guys I'd feel very uncomfortable. It'd be like they were invading my privacy or something among those lines. I'd feel violated. "But only with kids our own age, its not like they put all the older kids in with the younger kids." That only made me feel the tiniest bit better, at least she wouldn't have to expose herself to old people. "Why, you don't have mixed showers in District One?"

"Of course not!" I almost shrieked. Just the thought of it. "You get severely punished if your caught peeking in the opposite gender's change room!"

"What a modest district." Howl commented. Well, you don't expect kids to just go into a single shower room and shower in front of whoever enters the room, especially if it's one of the opposite genders. "Are you ashamed of your body?" She asked.

"Of course not." I told her. I had a good body, I'm not scared up like some other people in the district, I'm not fat and not too thin, and a lot of people used to say that I was good looking. I was short, but the only people that didn't like it were my parents. All and all, I thought I was pretty good. That was my opinion though.

"Good thing you aren't, because if those cameras are still broadcasting live, all of Panem can see you naked right now." Howl told with with laughter in her voice. Oh god! I forgot all about the cameras!

As I grabbed my clothes again and started to place them back on, I heard Howl start shouting out

"Hey! Capital! Districts! You like what you see right now? Oh yeah! You like it don't you!" What the? What was she thinking? Wasn't she embarrassed about exposing herself to the world?

"What are you doing?" I shouted to her.

"Oh relax," she told me with unnatural calmness "the Capital stops the broadcast when something like this happens." Yeah, that's true now that I think about it.

"But what about the Capital?" I asked her. She stopped and thought for a bit before she started showing again.

"Hey Capital! You like what you see? I bet you do! Who wouldn't like this? A blonde with good sized boobs and a flat chested child both naked!" I don't know why, but I think she was enjoying this. "Oh yeah! Check us out!" Howl then started to do sexy poses as she continued to shout out towards the sky. "I bet you Capital men are yanking your cocks right now seeing us like this! A not so busty blonde and a child is here for your entertainment you pedos! Well, Lynsa's legal, so she's alright!"

I then heard laughter burst out from the other side of the cornucopia. The boys on the other end were laughing at what Howl was shouting. They laughed as if it was the funniest thing that they ever heard.

"Hey Capital ladies!" I heard Lucifer shout from the other side of the cornucopia. "You like what you see here?" Suddenly, I heard Howl start to laugh along with the boys. How they could laugh at a time like this, I had no idea.

**District Four's Evaline "Eva" Ellery's POV**

Ahh! This water feels so good! The refreshing water that covered my entire body like a blanket felt so nice. I couldn't hear or feel a thing around me, I could only hear and feel the calm rush of my body moving through the water. I continued to swim around the lake with ease as the sun was continuing to rise. The water was still warm and that made it ideal for swimming in the cold mornings before the sun would start to rise. I knew that the lake was going to get cold later on in the day though, but that's a good thing, because it's going to start heating up in the arena, and a cold swim will help keep my body from overheating too much. This lake would be used for more then just swimming and cooling down in though. Earlier today, I saw some small fishes swimming around in this lake, and even though they weren't very big, they seemed to be no bigger then either one of my biceps in both length and width, they would still provide me with food. I just needed to make a fishing rod out of something. I had wire, I'd just need to make a hook and find a suitable stick for the rod as well as some bait, if I could find any, and I'd be set for means of food and water. This couldn't be any better, I couldn't be happier inside the arena.  
I love swimming, it reminded me of my mother, and even though she drowned in the river outside my house, I still love swimming to remind myself of her. Swimming in this lake wasn't the same as swimming in the river outside our house, but it was still swimming, and I loved it.

I did one last lap of the lake before climbing ashore and letting the sun dry my body and undergarments. I started to wring out my hair before checking on the light throb that came from my right index finger. When I fell down that hill, I clawed at the ground and tried to stop myself from rolling down, and lost my right index fingernail because of that. I scraped my other fingers and tore some bits of my other fingernails off as well, but my right index finger was the worst of them. It was a small price to pay though, if I hadn't fallen down that hill, I probably wouldn't have found that lake.

I'm really glad that Shoney gave me the first aid kit, I still can't believe that I forgot about it when I was leaving the career pack. If Shoney hadn't given me that first aid kit, my finger would probably be in worse shape then it is now. Infected, still bleeding, not healing. Shoney in my opinion should have been the safe one instead of me, he had the other careers with him while I was alone in the arena. It was funny in a way, that the protected one dies instead of the unprotected one.

I thought of him and what he had done to me, taking a slash to the face in addition to doing something the other careers wouldn't have liked, just to help me escape from them. When I return home, I should give his family something to show my thanks.

I looked over to my finger to see how the bandage was holding up, and it was still stuck on like nothing had ever happened to it, it was nice and waterproof. Thank god for that. And what about that girl that I tripped over? I wonder if I hurt her more then I hurt myself? She seemed to be in alright shape when she ran away from me, but how much did it hurt her? Hope she's alright, even if she is my enemy.

I finished wringing out my hair as best I could before deciding to use some of this lake water to my advantage, not that it wasn't already to my advantage, but I'd use it to my advantage even more. I needed some purified water, and even though this water looked perfectly fine with it's crystal like clearness, I knew that it wasn't pure enough to drink. Well, that's what the iodine is for, to purify the water so that it can be drinkable. I walked over to my tent that I managed to pitch up last night and grabbed a couple of black and silver, two litter sized thermoses from my backpack before also grabbing the jar of iodine. I couldn't believe how fast I had drank up that amount of water. I mean, the weather was hot and everything, but I didn't expect it to be such a drain on me. I should ration the water better, just in case something happens and I can't return to the lake for several days. Who knows what'll happen here.

I picked up my thermos handles with one hand and the iodine jar with the other when I felt something hit the top of my head. Was that a rain drop? I sure hoped it was, I didn't want to look up and see some giant mutt over me drooling saliva on me. I was almost too scared to look up thanks to that thought, but I looked up anyway and saw a clear sky, until I saw thousands of rain drops suddenly appear our of nowhere and start falling towards me. Thank god it wasn't a mutt drooling over me, I felt relieved knowing that I wasn't in any danger.  
This was obviously a gamemaker trick, real rain doesn't suddenly appear that fast out of the blue.

Ah man, and after I had just dried myself off too. Well, I could still dry myself off in the tent before putting on some dry clothes. But before that, I'll open the thermos lids and let the rain water fill them up. Save some iodine for later.

I shouldn't complain about the rain though, back in District Four, rain was a common thing, and I was used to it. If it rained when you had to walk to school you didn't complain, you enjoyed it, even if you arrived at school soaking wet. Hell, people back home enjoyed it when it rained, especially in the summer when you went out fishing. I remember one time, not long before mom had died, the four of us, father, mother, Macey and I had gone out to fish. It was a Friday, but our parents allowed us to take the day off from school so that we could spend some time with them. I didn't mind, I could catch up on school when Flora drops the homework at my house. School could wait for one day, I was going to have fun with my family.

Before the sun even rose up, we were preparing for our trip. Fishing rods, spears, a net and trident, knives, fresh water, food, and a giant cooler that seemed to take up nearly half the space of the boat.

After we got all the stuff into our boat and we were ready to take off, we rowed our boat to the general fishing area of District Four, along with the rest of the merchant fishers, and set off just before sunrise. Looking back now, the sunrises back home were the best ones that anyone could ever encounter. Not even the sunrises in the Capital could compete with it. When you see the golden white clouds mixed in with orange and red combined the sun's yellow rays hitting the ocean's blue water, you'd think you went into another world. That was our mornings, and that one thing alone, was what made me think that District Four was the best district to ever live in. I still think it is, because even the Capital with all their fancy technology, couldn't replicate it with their fake scenery collection. No matter how realistic it looked.

We fished all day under the hot sun, getting excited when we caught something, anything, then be disappointed when we caught kelp or awake encrusted rock, and getting excited when we caught some fish. We were catching little to medium sized fishes that we placed in the cooler to sell when we got back home after we sliced them into strips, or maybe we'll sell them whole, whatever the customer wanted. I just didn't like that nearly ninety percent of our catch would have to go to the Capital, they just had to have everything. We worked for our catches, and yet, we had to give the vast majority of it to those thatprobably didn't even know how to even tie a lure onto a fishing rod.

It was hot, tiring work at times. But when the rain came down, everyone enjoyed it. It was refreshing, it made you fit for fishing again, it made you not want to give up, it made you cooled you down. Sometimes, you could even hear the cheers the other people gave when started to rain. When your fishing under the hot sun for hours, you learn to appreciate the little things nature gives you.

No, I wasn't going to complain about the rain, this rain, was just what I needed.

**District Five's Alexander Natas's POV**

Easy. Easy. Easy. Ahhhh! Son of a bitch that stings! The disinfectant ran over my wounds as it's chemicals burned the germs that were on my wound as I raised the small bottle up and sealed it shut with the lid. Fucking Aerin, why'd he have to slash me in the back? I had to use up half a bottle of disinfectant to get that area. It was hard to reach, that was the reason I had to waste so much of it.

I was mad. Mad at myself and towards those District Eleven tributes. That girl should have just given him up, it would have been so much easier for all three of us. I should have kept that knife as well, it would have been a better weapon to use against Aerin then a belt. I grabbed some roll up bandages before wrapping them around my back where Aerin had cut me. That was the only spot that needed to be covered with the bandages, my other wounds only felt painful, they didn't need medical attention like this cut did. I wrapped the bandages around the wound before tying them tight and tearing off the extra length with my teeth.

My face still hurt, but it would pass after today or maybe tomorrow. Hopefully it'll go away soon so that I didn't have to live with it for much longer.

I placed the bandages back on the table before turning around to see the dark red mess of dried blood where I had cut that orange haired girl to death. I felt myself smile from just remembering that. I wonder what their reactions where when they found the body, I would have liked to see it. Arein's time would come, and so would that Angel's. Next time, no fooling around, next time, I'll be serious, no more taking my time with interrogation, I'll cut her face apart in a span of thirty seconds if she doesn't give me what I want the first time I ask. If she wanted her face cut open because she wanted to be a protector, so be it. She still wouldn't be getting a quick death though.

In the middle of my thought, I started to suddenly hear a constant racket of noise falling on top of the roof of my hut. What was that? I didn't even have time to think about it it had appeared so suddenly. It seemed to come from everywhere above me.

Shit. If it was another tribute running across my roof I wasn't in a very good position to attack, I was still weaponless. I decided to grab the wooden chair that sat behind one of the tables that held my supplies. It wasn't the best weapon in the arena, but it'd make a good bludgeoning weapon if I manage to swing it right and hit the enemy on the first try. Right now, the chair is a better weapon then my homemade spear and that sharp rock that I have.

I started to wonder if it really was someone running across my roof though, I mean, it did sound like it was coming from everywhere at once. Unless every tribute in the arena was coming after me or an army of mutts were on the roof, I didn't know what that sound was.

I walked over to the door while holding the chair up high with my left hand before reaching for the door knob with my free hand. I grabbed the door knob, twisted it, then opened the door to see rain falling down outside my hut. I saw the rain falling down everywhere, but there were thicker pieces of water dropping from the edges of my hut and the edges of the jungle vegetation.

Huh, to think I was scared of nothing. I felt stupid, I got excited over nothing. To think that an army was running on the top of my roof. I laughed a little before putting down the chair and grabbing a few empty glass bottles that were lying on top of the table beside me before placing them outside so that they'd fill up with some drinkable water.

**District Seven's Bo Heatherfield's POV**

Did I make the right choice with that girl Life? Giving her a hatchet in exchange for the food I was trying to steal until I got caught with them? She had appeared right in front of me just as I was planning on exiting the building that her food was in. And when she saw me, she didn't even hesitate to try and kill me. I raised my hatchet and swung it at her head to scare her. I missed of course, I wasn't going to kill her, I only hit her dagger, which then dropped out of her hand. She must have not seen it that way, because she attacked me with her fists. I was ready though, as soon as she had thrust her fists at me I grabbed her face with my hands. I hoped that she wouldn't get to me, I was only holding her back so that she wouldn't attack me too badly.

I held onto her just fine until she punched my elbows and caused them to release her. If I didn't do something she'd overwhelm me, so I quickly swung my hatchet at her throat. Luckily, I was faster then her and my weapon stopped just short of her throat as she was ready to attack me.  
She looked scared, I could see it in her eyes, those eyes full of fear of me killing her. I wasn't going to kill her, couldn't she see that? Then in those eyes, I saw recognition flood inside them as she continued to look at me.

"You." She said to me. She recognized me. "What are you doing here?" She asked.  
I didn't know what to do at the time, now that I had gotten caught, which wasn't part of the plan to begin with, I reached into my pocket to show her the food that I had taken. I was hungry, so hungry, my backpack contained no food, and the only things to eat in that church are spiders, if I manage to find them, and they aren't very big either. My small backpack contained a single water bottle and three hatchets, but no food, that's why I came here, I smelt the food and decided to wait till you and your partner were asleep. But that District Four career showed up, and your ally started to chase him. After that, you ran after them. That's when I made my move, that's when I went in to steal your food. But I had been over cautious, I moved too slowly and too stealthily for the moment, I just couldn't help it, I was used to doing it that way. And when I did get in your building, I wondered if there was more food in there then just the ones in front of me, if there was some hidden food in those backpacks or in some other location for safe keeping. I looked around for more food after grabbing the cooked mockingjays, only to find nothing else, only plastic water bottles with some water that I didn't need.

I held them out to return them to you. Why I did that I still don't know, I could have just ran out with the birds and not looked back, but instead, I was holding them out to you, I was returning what was yours.

It doesn't really matter what I should have done at that moment anyway, she told me to keep them. I didn't believe it at first, but she told me to keep them, she seemed to insist it. She told me that she had more food with her. Did she really have more food? Or was she just feeling sorry for me? I didn't know then and I still don't know now, either way she was giving them to me, and I was grateful for that, I really wanted this food.

I could have just ran after that, but instead, I gave her one of my hatchets. A trade, a hatchet for some food. Did I make the right choice in giving it to her? I don't know, I could have done things differently, why didn't I? She didn't ask for a hatchet. She didn't demand the food back. I could have ran from her. I could have given her nothing. Why did I give her something? I don't know what I was thinking. This was all too confusing.

I walked outside to the back of the church trying not to think of last night, but failed, I kept thinking about her. Why? Why couldn't I just forget about it? It wasn't important, I just gave her a hatchet and she gave me food. She was being nice to me, and I was being nice to her in exchange, that's all it was, an exchange of items.

As I was thinking about last night I suddenly felt pain in my right knee. I grunted in slight pain as I came back to reality and saw that I had ran into the stone well that I had found on the first day I was in the arena. This well was invaluable, it was a source of fresh underground water that was drinkable, good thing for that because I didn't have anything to purify it with. If that curly haired girl from District Eight knew about this well, would she have left the church? I don't think so, why would someone abandon a fresh water source like this?

The well was surrounded by a two foot high stone structure that circled the outside of the well, and on top of that stone structure was a good sized wooden bucket with a rope attached to the metal handle. Good thing that this well has a bucket and rope, the water was nearly ten feet below ground, if I tried to get it without the bucket and rope I could forget about getting out, there would be no way to climb out or anything, the walls down there were too smooth and had nothing to grab onto for grip.

I pushed the bucket down into the well before hearing a splash occur a couple seconds later when a downpour suddenly started. As soon as it started falling, I knew what it was. Gamemaker made, real rain does not do that, even in the forests back home with trees covering the sky above us, rain does not suddenly appear all at once, it wasn't natural.

I was a little stressed about the rain right now, I didn't need rain I had a well full of drinkable water, what I needed was food. I drank a lot of water to help calm my stomach down from my lack of food for the past few days, but water can only substitute solid food for so long. My stomach hurt from not having anything solid in it.

I felt water running down my face and I raised my right hand to wipe the water off from around my eyes. When I looked at the water on my hand, I saw that it had little hints of brown within the clear liquid. Hmm, maybe the rain can do something to clean my body, and while it's at it, fill the well. Heck, maybe it'll get animals to crawl inside a building so that I could find it. Hmm, maybe this rain wouldn't be so bad after all.

**District Eight's December Juliet "Ember" Varen's POV**

The rain came down suddenly, unexpectedly, and wonderfully. This rain was just what I needed, I needed water, and I was getting some. I reached into my backpack and excitedly pulled out my water bottle and twisted the cap off so that the empty plastic bottle would fill up with rain water. Rain, it was always wonderful when it rained back in District Eight. It didn't rain very much in District Eight for some reason, I learned that it was because of where we were located, was that true? Was it because we were placed where we were placed? Or was it something else?

Did it rain a lot in other districts? Did it rain less? I don't know, I haven't been to other districts? Father would know, he's been in District Three for the past seven years, he'd know if it rained a lot there.

I cupped my hands to catch some of the rain water in my palms before letting them fill up with water. When my hands were full of water, I started to drink from my palms. The water was good, it was really good, better them some of the water we got back home. Fresh rain water was a treat back in District Eight, with the factories and pollution, pure clean water was hard to find. Why wouldn't the Capital give us something to clean the water? We were a district full of factories that made clothes and only clothes, the food we got was either given to us by the Capital, which wasn't much, the food given to us if we applied for tesserae, which would last for a month if we were careful, and those we illegally grew at home. Since we were rich, we could buy extra food and not be hungry like the majority of the district. Even those who grew their own food were limited to what they could eat, they didn't grow much, they couldn't grow much even if they wanted to.

When it rained, it didn't matter if you were on the richer side of town, or on the poorer outskirts of the district, everyone ran out of their homes or wherever they were with pots, pans, and whatever else could hold water in a hurry. Yes, clean water was hard to come by, so to me, this rain wasn't something to be taken lightly. I continued to cup my hands together while drinking hand full after handful of water while loving every moment of it.

**District Ten's Life Lee's POV**

Rayne was still passed out, not that I could blame her, I could still feel the pain that Shoney had given me, and even then it was nothing compared to what Rayne had gotten. While I had bruises and pains over several areas of my body, Rayne had bigger bruises that were more black and swollen then mine while also having more of them. Her bleeding nose had just recently healed but the shape of her nose seemed to be off a little. There were cuts on her face, legs, chest and back as well as deeply torn skin on the right side of her right leg which I cut off because I knew that it was never going to heal properly, even with the needle and thread that I had, before wrapping it with some roll up bandages and tying it tight around her wound. Her cuts and scraps weren't too bad, so I decided to not use some of the bandages on those wounds.

Feeling the rough pain I'm feeling right now, I'm glad that Rayne's sleep instead of feeling pain. I'd hate to be Rayne when she wakes up, taking a major beating like that, she shouldn't have ran off alone. But what was Shoney doing out there by himself? Shouldn't there have been other careers with him? Right now, I'm just thanking god that we didn't have to go against the other careers as well as Shoney, Shoney was hard enough without career backup.

I looked at the arms that Rayne had chopped off the young career and wondered what made Rayne even come up with that idea. Sure we needed food, but I don't think that most people would have even thought of cannibalism that easily. Rayne didn't even hesitate to cut his arms off when I gave her her machete back, I dragged her to Shoney, and she cut off his arms, simple as that. It made me wonder what was going through that mind of her. It kind of scared me.  
I continued to look at Shoney's severed arms as I lowered my ax, not wanting to cut apart what was once attached to a human boy. Back home, I cut apart animal parts, they were already dead, and Shoney was already dead as well, but I couldn't stand the thought of cutting him apart into bite sized pieces. Back home, I could cut apart and debone a whole chicken in thirty seconds or less with an ax, and yet, I couldn't even get the strength to cut even one finger off this boy's arm.

Feeling useless, I threw Bo's gift at a wall before hearing the ax slam on the hard concrete wall before hearing the dull thud of the weapon crashing to the ground. I wanted to help Rayne, she needed real help now, and all I did was bandage her ankle up, I only did something that she could have done on her own. Why am I useless in this alliance? Rayne got the better backpack with the water bottles, the starter food, the better weapon, the mockingjays which got traded for a hand held ax, and she scared off the late night intruder. Did I do anything like that? No. No I didn't. I didn't do anything for this alliance expect make her bird hunting a little easier and covering a wound that she could have fixed on her own, even if she didn't have my first aid kit she seemed to be smart enough to be able to find something out on her own. I wanted to do something for her other then be a burden. A tag along.

You saved her though didn't you Life? From Shoney? Sure, I did, twice for about five seconds each, after that, I was the one that needed saving. I wanted to do more.

I stood up, walked around the arms, and walked towards the door that now had a fist sized hole in it thanks to Rayne last night. Maybe I could fix that, this was our shelter after all, don't want the other tributes sneaking up on us like Shoney almost did. And Bo, if he was an enemy we'd be dead. But he wasn't an enemy, he didn't kill me even when he had the perfect opportunity. He spared me. I'm very grateful for him sparing me and giving me that ax. And when he smiled, that was the first time I had seen him do that, and while it felt good that I helped him, I still felt bad about Rayne and how I needed to help her now.

I opened the door and stepped outside only to feel my entire body getting wet. For a second, I was shocked at what was happening, but then I realized what was happening. Oh my god! It's raining! It's raining!

I turned around and shouted happily to Rayne.

"Rayne! It's raining!" She didn't respond of course, but now I knew of a way to help her. I ran over to our backpacks and grabbed out all seven of the plastic water bottles, almost empty or completely empty I grabbed them all, and ran outside to fill them with rain water. I set them on the ground and the rain started to slowly fill them up. Now we'll soon have something to drink again. We wouldn't dehydrate to death now. I felt happy that I managed to do something that could save our lives. Right now, I was a valuable ally and not just some tag along girl.

As the rain ran down my body, I thought of another thing that I could help Rayne with. She was dirty with blood and dirt, and we haven't cleaned ourselves for days. I think I'll clean her wounds better now that we had water to spare.

**District Eleven's Angel Hale's POV**

This was wonderful, I mean, how many times has this happened to me before? None, until now. I didn't like that I was attacked last night, but it was worth it, because now, I'm laying down right beside Aerin with my head on his lap. I was so close to him, and I felt really good right now besides the stinging pain in my forehead where that white haired bastard carved the word bitch into my flesh. I hope he dies, I hope he dies a slow and painful death, he deserves that much.

Aerin was going to go after him, but I didn't want him to go out there, I didn't want to be left alone, not after what had happened. It was dangerous in the arena, something might have happened to either of us. I begged him to stay, and he did, like the good natured guy he is.  
And here we are now, in the middle of the jungle together. Last night, he told me to get some sleep after he cleaned the blood off me and warped my forehead with a combination of moss and vines. They weren't bandages, but I couldn't be picky right now.

I still can't believe that I got to fall asleep on his lap, I mean really. I looked up to see that Aerin's eyes were closed and he that his breathing was a little heavy, but he was asleep. He must have fallen asleep while watching over me, what a great guy he is, he seems to always think of others before himself. He's still upset over Sami's death, he still blames himself on it, is that why he's trying so hard with me right now? Either way, I liked it.

Looking at Aerin right now, he didn't look like the kind of kid that he was last night, right now, he looked at ease, at peace maybe even. Everyone looks at peace when their asleep, I learned that from my sisters, Aerin's not any different from them. I'm glad that he's relaxing right now, he's beating himself up over everything he could have done for Sami to keep her alive. There was nothing you could do Aerin, you tried your best, and I'm sorry that you feel that way about Sami, but you couldn't help it, I miss her too, but some things can't be helped.

I heard Aerin start to say things in his sleep that I couldn't understand. What were you dreaming of? I can't understand what your saying, but I hope that what your dreaming about is good. You need something good to happen to you Aerin, too many things have happened to you recently, and your blaming yourself too much.

I looked at Aerin's face and thought of how good he looked. I never really noticed him back home, but I wish I had noticed him and gotten to know him, he'd have been someone that I'd have liked. Actually, I do like him, I really do like him, there was no hiding it from myself, I liked everything about him. Seeing him like this, seeing him so, open, I couldn't help myself. I lifted my head up and lifted by back up so that my head was level with his head before slowly getting closer to him. I really wanted this, and I was going to do it. It kind of felt wrong to kiss someone while they were sleeping, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to do this.

I saw that I was mere inches away from kissing him when a sudden downpour of rain suddenly crashed down on us and Aerin's eyes snapped open so suddenly that it made me react in fear. I feel back just as I heard Aerin shout in what sounded like fear before I saw a flash of steel fly across where my neck had been.

I watched in fear as Aerin sliced the air above me three more times before he calmed down enough to see that he was slicing nothing but air. Oh god, I could have been there, I could have died.

"I'm sorry." I heard Aerin say to me with shock in his voice "I didn't mean to start attacking like that." Of course you didn't, you fully meant to attack whatever was in front of you, which was me. What were you thinking? Actually, what were you not thinking? "I had that, nightmare again," Aerin explained as his breathing slowed down and he seemed to be getting calmer "I'm sorry, but I thought that their blood had splashed onto my body."

"My blood almost splashed onto your body." I told him, trying not to be angry at him, it wasn't his fault that his nightmares scared him that much, and these situations, they seemed to have the best timings. First with the cannon, then with the rain, what was next? I just hoped that I wasn't in his path next time, like I was the first time.

"Sorry." Aerin said sounding guilty, which made it hard for me to feel too mad at him.  
"It's ok," I told him "it's not your fault." It's those nightmares fault. Damn nightmares, damn rain, ruin the occasion. "The good news is, it's raining." I happily told him, even though the rain almost killed me and ruined the kiss that was almost there.

Aerin seemed shocked to hear that, I couldn't see how he could miss it though, the rain was falling on him from the moment he woke up.

"Oh my god," he said excitedly "it is raining!" Aerin then started to laugh and smile as he started to take in what was happening around him. "It's raining!" Aerin shouted happily. Aerin right now, after learning that it was raining, was like a happy child, but then again, it seemed that everyone except me got excited when they saw the rain. The workers would shout and cheer in happiness when rain started to fall. The tree climbers would start hollering as soon as they felt the first drops of rain and everyone could be all excited about those little drops of liquid falling from the sky. And when the rain arrived at ground level, everyone would act like it was a celebration. Everyone seemed to take a couple minutes off work to enjoy the rain. Well, everyone but the peacekeepers, they were soulless humans who only got pleasure from the pain of others, but even they allowed the people of District Eleven to play around for a couple minutes in the rain.

Maybe the reason everyone changed in District Eleven when the rain falls is because it hardly ever happens. Hell, we're lucky if we get rain five times in a single year.

Looking at Aerin get excited over this little thing, it kind of made me not mad at him anymore, he looked so happy right now, I wanted him to be like this all the time. I'd like to be the one to make him happy in the future.

**District Twelve's Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

What was that? Something wet was hitting me, what was it? My eyes shoot open and I looked around to see what was happening. Was I being attacked? What was happening? I couldn't see see what was happening. I continued to feel something wet drip onto my arms and legs and while it didn't scare me, I wasn't exactly being calm about it. What was hitting me? It was slightly warm and wet.

I moved my body and hoped that whatever was dripping on me would go away. But it didn't. I pushed the piece of bark that was behind my head so that I could get out of here. The sun flooded my vision and I had to cover my eyes to avoid the sun from burning my eyes. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw that the ground was covered in a thin layer of water. That's when I realized, that it was raining.

A second later, I heard the sounds of the rain drops hitting the top of my shelter and the environment around me. I felt ridiculous, I got nervous over a little rain, how stupid.

My shelter wasn't exactly the most weatherproof thing ever created, but it was still a shelter that did it's job rather well. So what if it had a few leaks for the rain, it's still better then no shelter at all, though I would still like a real tent that didn't make me have to sleep on the hard ground which was now turning a little wet. I just hoped that the ground under my shelter didn't get too wet because of this rain. If I isolated as much of the ground my shelter was on, I could hopefully minimize the amount of wetness the ground would have.

I crawled out of my shelter while clutching my backpack and dragged it out along with my body. I didn't take the backpack out the entire way though, I kept it under the roof of my shelter and out of the leaky areas so that my items, mainly my spare socks, could stay dry, and removed the hard brown fruit sections that I had cut in halves. I'm glad that I saved them, these fruits were giving me lifesavers left and right, food, water, now they were bowls that I could use them as. I grabbed the shell halves and placed them placed them right side up under the rain.  
It didn't take long for them to start filling up with rain water. When one of them was half full I grabbed the shell before lifting it up to my mouth and started drinking the water out of the bowl shaped shell.

Sweet nectar of the earth this stuff that was going down my throat was good.

**District Three's Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone's POV**

Let the others have their fun in the rain, let them play around and shout to the sky, I was going to go hunting. I hoped that I could find some prime game in the jungle today. A girl, a girl would be good. I needed a girl, I wanted a girl. I'd add her to my legacy while also having some fun with her.

A/N: I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time, but life got in the way and I've been doing things that require my absolute attention.

Anyway, about this chapter, about half way during Alex's POV, I started feeling kind of funny about the chapter, so, I'm sorry if their not as good as you'd like them to be, but, here it is. I blame writer's block.

Oh Angel, nightmares plus rain plus kisses do not mix.

And I just feel like saying this: I've got plans, I've got plans for everyone in this story.

Chapters 2,3 and 18 have been updated. I don't know if the're better or not, but they've been updated.


	31. Run and run some more

**Day Four. Early morning.  
District Eleven's Angel Hale's POV **

Out of my line of sight, Aerin seemed to be enjoying himself in the rain. Even though he wasn't acting as overjoyed as he was before, I could still tell he was having fun in the rain. Hell, he wasn't any different then just about everyone back home.

I knew what Aerin was doing behind me, he wanted to take a clean shower, I couldn't blame him since we had been in the arena for three days and were on our fourth. We knew what the hot sun could do to the human body, and for the last three days and nights we've been sweating it out in our clothes that we haven't even changed since we arrived in the arena. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world, having smelly clothes on our body and not washing for several days, but I dealt with it. I just wished that our backpacks could have contained some spare clothes among the many items we could have gotten along with the items we got.

Aerin was cleaning himself right now, and he was close to me, about twenty feet or so behind me, and I really wanted to see him, but out of respect, I wasn't going to look at him in his state. Even thought I really wanted to.

I didn't want to shower for the simple reason that I didn't want to take off my clothes, I didn't feel comfortable stripping my clothes off in the arena for two reasons. The first one was because this whole thing was being broadcasted live to the entire world, and I didn't want everyone to see me naked.

The Capital censored the broadcast by blackening the screen out or showing something else happening in the arena. But I was still paranoid about what they broadcasted in the Capital. They might watch an uncensored version of what was going on in the arena, so even if those in the districts didn't see, the Capital citizens might. I bet some Capital women and stupid little girls are lusting over Aerin's body if they have uncensored coverage.

That thought burned my mind and made me angry at them. They didn't know him, they shouldn't even think of him. They probably didn't have the respect to look away from him, they probably couldn't control themselves enough to not look away from the T.V right at this moment. Stupid little whores!

And what if the Capital suddenly changed their rules on broadcasting? What if they suddenly started to uncensor everything to the districts? There was nothing that said that they couldn't do that. What the hell could stop them from broadcasting everything to us on a whim? They could do whatever they damn well wanted, and we, the districts, couldn't stop them. Just like how we couldn't stop them in the second rebellion.

The second reason that I didn't want to take my clothes off other then probably being lusted over by Capital men. It was being attacked in the open, and being naked while doing that. That would have been really embarrassing. No time to get back into your clothes while being attacked, and I could almost guarantee that they'd have to broadcast a fight, tributes being naked or not the Capital wouldn't want to miss a fight and a potential death. And I didn't want any of the other tributes to see me like that. Well, maybe I'd let one see me like that but that's about it.

The second reason was strongly enforced by the fact that the white haired, red eyed Alexander Natas had attacked me right in the open last night with Aerin only maybe thirty five feet away from me. I took his beating to prevent him from knowing where Aerin was, because I didn't want him to find Aerin and kill him or do whatever he was thinking of doing to him. It scared me to think that someone could do that while your ally was only several tens of feet away.

"Hey Angel," I heard Aerin say behind me as I was thinking of him last night. "Why didn't you tell him?" I then said to him what I was thinking just a few seconds ago.

"I didn't want anything to happen to you." I told him. And it was true, I didn't want anything to happen to Aerin, he had gone through enough trying to protect me. I felt as if I hadn't done enough for this group. I helped Sami make a homemade bow, that failed to protect her. I'm not one of the strong tributes, so I couldn't fight back against that albino. I felt as if I needed to rely on Aerin for just about anything. Which I felt was wrong of me. Aerin didn't need the stress.

"But," Aerin said with some discomfort in his voice. "He was beating you, and he carved that word into your head." Yeah, he did, I should know, I was the one that he was doing it to. But it felt good that he worried about me, it made me feel as if I meant something to him other then just another tribute in the arena.

"And he was going to kill you," I told my ally remembering what my attacker had said to me. 'I just like hurting you,'. He was just killing time until he had reached Aerin. And those eyes, those red eyes were filled with the love of violence, I could see that in his eyes, he loved to hurt me and was planning on hurting Aerin the same way he was hurting me. Or maybe worse. "He was going to kill us both."

Back home in District Eleven, my dad would hit my sisters and I while shouting cruel insults at us. He shouted at us for whatever reason he wanted, but he really liked to blame me for my mother's death. He also liked to insult me about my breasts that were bigger then every girl that was my age and even girls that were older them me. He'd call me a slut because of them and say that I'd want to make a living off of them. He'd call me a useless little bitch and slap me around for whatever reason. That's how I got to be a tough girl, or so I would have liked to think back then. After my encounter with Alexander, I found that my father wasn't the worst person that actually hurt me. I knew that there were worse people in the district then my father, all you needed to do was look outside to see at least one peacekeeper, but they normally wouldn't do anything to you unless you broke a rule. My father would hurt me and insult me, but that white haired bastard would touchier me, kill me, and insult me the whole way. He was worse then my father by a long shot.

My father would mostly do it out of anger, I could see it in his eyes back home when he beat my sisters and I. He didn't care about us, so he didn't care if he hurt us or not. But Alexander didn't have that anger in his eyes. Inside his eyes was joy, he loved hurting me because that's what he seemed to like doing. My father liked hurting us, but not to the extent Alexander did. Alexander seemed to live for it.

I then remembered something that he had said while he was beating me last night. He said something about doing the same thing he was doing to me towards Sami. He did say our orange haired ally, it had to be Sami that he was talking about, nobody else had orange hair. He also said something her body. 'How'd you like the body?' That's what he said. I'm sure he said that.  
That made me wonder what he was talking about, what body? I never saw her body, I only saw her picture flash in the sky the day she died. It made me think of what he said. How could I see a body that had disappeared? The Capital hovercrafts pick up the bodies of the dead when they die, and if people aren't near them. So how could I have seen her? It made me think of the morning that Sami's cannon fired to tell us that she was dead. Aerin and I went looking to see if we could find her, and we couldn't. Aerin said that he hadn't found anything that morning, and neither did I. It made me confused about the whole situation. There was no body near our camp. He was lying, if there was a body I would have known about it, how could you miss a body near your own camp? You'd have to be blind to not notice.

But if what that albino had told the truth and thought that I had seen Sami's body? If he thought that, then the body would have needed to be near our camp, and somewhere where he thought we'd be able to see it without us noticing him. Come to think of it, Aerin took a little long when he went behind that tree. That made me wonder.

As soon as I thought about that, it wouldn't stop picking at me that Aerin had lied to me about not finding Sami. So I decided to ask. I had to find out what had happened, and asking would be the first step to finding out who was right. "You found Sami's body." I told him changing the subject of which we were previously talking about. It also wasn't a question.

Aerin seem a little stunned by that statement. It was like he didn't expect me to say it. I now knew that he had found her dead body, everything was beginning to click into place.  
A moment of silence came between us and the only only sound you could hear was the rain falling on the forest foliage and the sounds of birds chirping in the distance.

I said again "you found Sami's body didn't you. That day when she died and you said that you didn't find anything. You found her didn't you."

More silence came as Aerin seemed to absorb what I had said. It was like he didn't want to say anything to me. That just made me know that he had found her even more. And that made me more then a little upset.

Finally, I heard him take a deep sigh.

"Yes," he said with sadness in his voice. "I did find her. But-" I didn't want to hear anymore.

"No buts about it," I said to him angrily "you knew she was dead, and you didn't tell me." My anger started to build up as I thought of how Aerin had deceived me into thinking that Sami was still alive for that entire day. Instead of telling me that she had died, he kept my hopes up about her being alive and returning to us. "You lied to me." I told him harshly. "I should have been told the truth instead of you keeping my hopes up before shattering them."

All that day, I kept my hopes up that that cannon wasn't Sami's, I kept on hoping that she was out in the arena somewhere and was only lost and looking for us. But that wasn't the case. She was neither lost nor gathering food or looking for it. She was dead, and Aerin knew it.

"I didn't want you to see her the way she was," Aerin told me with sadness still in his voice. "The way she was, mutilated." That seemed like a sorry excuse to me.

"I've seen mutilated people before," Everyday you were surrounded by death back in District Eleven, you simply couldn't live there without seeing some sort of death. I've seen the peacekeepers sadistically whip the flesh off of people's backs until the whites of their spines showed. I've seen them twist limbs until they broke into angles that were normally humanly impossible. I've seen them paint class room walls with student and teacher brains alike after shooting them in the head with a bullet. Of course, the bullet through the head is the ending act after they do some horrific thing to them first. The bullet to the head is almost a mercy kill at that point. "I can stand it." You have to be able to stand it, otherwise you can't live in the district. I've seen people go insane from seeing all that death and touchier before killing themselves in various ways. Most choose one of two options. One is to slice your own throat with a bladed weapon, or fall from a high branch and crack your head open. Either one works if your brave enough to do the deed.

"That still doesn't mean that you should hear about it," Aerin said. "Or see it." I heard him say quietly.

Before I could say anything, I heard Aerin say "I'm sorry that I lied to you. I just didn't want you to see her like she was, we get enough of that at home. And I was just doing what I thought was best for you."  
What was best for me. Did he really mean that? "Look," Aerin said "from now on, I won't lie to you about anything, how's that?" I felt happy hearing those two things. Maybe he was doing what he thought was the best for me, though I still didn't like that he kept Sami's death a secret.  
"Sure," I told him knowing that he was just doing what he thought was the best thing to do in his opinion. "Sure, just don't lie to me anymore."

**Mid-morning.  
District Eight's December Juliet "Ember" Varen's POV **

Breathe in. Breathe out. Could I do this? I breathed in, slowly, calmly. The better question to ask right now though was would I do it? Breathe out gently. My target was in front of me with it's head turned away from me. It wasn't even looking at me, and hopefully it wouldn't turn around to face me. I didn't want that, even with the rest of the advantages that I had.

Inhale. The thick jungle foliage helped hide my body from it if it did happen to look at me. Though I would prefer that it didn't turn around to look at me. I also stayed perfectly still, only moving to breathe in and out as I debated wither I could do the task ahead of me or not. The rain also deluded my scent which thankfully was heading away from the creature ahead of me. So all and all, I don't think I could be discovered easily. But was I hidden good enough?

Breathe out. In my opinion, I was hidden perfectly. I was in the perfect spot to attack, but all this would be useless if I didn't attack. The perfect spot to plan an assault, but it wouldn't be a place of assault if I didn't attack.

How could I do this? I could maybe throw a knife at it's eye for an instant death, but did I have the skill to hit it in the eye? I could go for the side of the skull, but did I have the strength to penetrate the thick skull? Would a hit to the side be enough? Would three throwing knives to the side be good enough to bring it down? I don't know, maybe I should just throw a throwing knife at my target before charging in with my nine inch kitchen knife. Would that be the best combat idea? If I wanted combat. Did I want to struggle with the boar?

Breathe in. The wind blew gently in my direction, so my scent wasn't heading towards it, I was safe from it smelling me. But at the same time, if I did throw one of my throwing knives, the wind would be a factor in where it hit, and I'd need to throw harder because the wind was blowing towards me. Would the wind blow my knife away from my target area? Was the wind strong enough? It didn't seem like it, but unexpected things did happen.

As I exhaled my breath again I reached back ever so slowly with my right hand and pulled out one of my throwing knives from the side of my backpack. I carefully pulled it out without making too much noise. Could the animal in front of me hear that I was pulling my knife out? If it did it didn't seem to take any interest in it. Good, I didn't want it running away. I needed it to live. For now. I didn't have any food left, and I couldn't find any thing that was edible where I was, like I had hoped. But that all changed after I found this brown furred animal in front of me.

I inhaled again when my throwing knife was out of the side of my backpack and was firmly in my hand. The wind gently brushed the jungle foliage around me which caused the animal to lift it's head up from time to time to inspect the environment around it. Every time it looked around it snorted from it's flattened snout while looking around before lowering it's head again to eat some of the grass on the ground. If things get bad I might have to eat grass. Is grass edible? It seemed safe enough, and the training instructor said that it was alright if it wasn't poisoned or anything. But was that true? What if all grass was harmful to humans but safe for animals? I've seen tributes eat grass before, but they were mixed with other food or mixed into soup. Did grass alone make people sick?

If I had a fire starter I could maybe make soup out of some of the various materials in the jungle. But until I do get a fire starter find some food other then that mushroom patch that I had found, and devoured, I'd have to settle on this animal's meat. But I'd have to cook the meat unless I wanted the meat raw, which I also didn't want. Maybe I'd learn to make a fire by rubbing two stick together or banging two rocks together.

I breathed out as I lifted my right hand up to get ready to throw the knife at the animal. I didn't really want to kill that animal, but I had to in order to continue living. But what if I couldn't do it? What if I decided that I didn't want to kill that animal? What if I made a sound and it got scared away? What if something happened and I couldn't kill it? Those thoughts rushed through my head as I arched my right hand behind my head, ready to throw the knife into the animal's flesh.

Breathe in. No, I had to kill it, I needed it's meat to survive. I had eaten all the bread and mushrooms that I had. As I said about raw meat, I could make a fire from maybe rubbing two sticks together, or finding a couple rocks and banging them together to create sparks, but it was hard to make a fire that way. Could I think of something else? Maybe later. That animal would provide me with food and maybe even a short coat. Yeah, I could make a short coat out of it's skin, I learned how to make clothes back home. After all, my mom did own a clothing store. I didn't make any clothes myself, but I did pay attention to what she had done with her sewing. The problem about making a coat right here and now though was that I didn't have a needle and thread. Actually, I don't think I need a needle and thread, I could just make it a one piece item.

As I breathed out I decided that I was going to kill the animal in front of me. But the task of doing it made me kind of uncomfortable, after all, I was killing another living thing. Watching the games showed me that the tributes in the arena didn't seem to care about killing animals, but they sometimes cared about the other humans they killed. Why was that? Was it because the other tributes were like them? Human? Was that it? Because we were both human?

Sweat. Or was it rain that rolled down my face as I debated wither I was going to do the deed of killing that animal. Maybe it was a mix of sweat and rain that ran down my face. Why did this have to be so hard?

I shut down my thoughts about killing another living being as I threw my arm forwards and let go of my knife at the right moment causing it to slice through the air and towards the animal's head. Ancestors, give me the strength and precision to carry out this deed. I wanted it to be quick and painless. One strike to the head and it'd be over. It wouldn't feel anything. And why should it? I wanted to live and I needed to kill that animal, but that doesn't mean that it should suffer.

The knife spun through the air as it traveled through the jungle air and rain and towards the animal before it struck it's target.

It wasn't a bulls eye, so the animal didn't die painlessly, in fact, it didn't die at all. I saw the knife sink into the side of it's neck before the four legged animal gave out a high pitched squeal of pain before it started to run away.

Oh crap! No! Don't run away! I need you! What had gone wrong? I quickly grabbed another throwing knife from the side of my backpack while getting up while at the same time running towards the injured animal. I ran towards the animal while turning the knife around so that I was holding the blade of the knife between my thumb and both my index and middle fingers.

I chased after the animal who was running a lot faster and agile then I was through this jungle of underbrush and obstacles. It darted through the jungle like it was nothing, unlike me, who was having trouble following the darn animal through obstacles that I needed to jump over, duck under, run around, and all around just try to keep it in my sights. I needed to stop it fast, before I lost track of it. I predicted where it was going to be in the next couple seconds before throwing my knife towards that area.

The knife spun towards that spot before it stabbed itself into the animal's left thigh. The fat but powerful animal crashed to the ground as it's leg gave way. The animal crashed into the ground with an almost human thud before it slid across the ground sending bits of dirt, twigs, grass, and other items into the air and creating a scar on the ground as it was sliding.

I was quickly catching up to the fallen animal, but would I make it in time? Would it stay down long enough? It's high pitched squealing made me want to make stop breathing. I didn't know wither it would attract the attention of some predator out there. Were their other predators out there? Were mutts worse then tributes? From what I've seen in previous games, maybe.  
As the beast was thrashing around on the ground unable to get up, I leaped on the beast's body before pulling both my throwing knives out of it's body and stabbed it in the skull with both my weapons before it suddenly fell silent. It's body twitching a bit before it stopped moving all together.

I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the deed was done. It hadn't gone that far, and I had managed to do it. I felt bad that I had to end it's life, and painfully too, but it had to be done.  
As I stood the beast's center mass, I didn't know wither I was sweating or the rain was making me think I was sweating. Either way, I got a little run that wasn't very draining, but was still intense.

I breathed in and out to catch the air I had lost. This felt good, I had caught some food, but I also felt bad because I had to kill another living being. Sorry boar, but you had to die. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I had some food with me, you might not of had to meet your fate this way.

I twisted the blades before I pulled them out of the beast's body before I sharply flicked my wrists to clean the blades of my throwing knives causing the blood on my knives to splatter onto the ground around me.

Now was going to be another hard part. Killing the animal was a challenge, but now I was going to have to skin it, which was another challenge altogether. I was going to have to cut open the animal's stomach before removing it's organs.

The thought of removing the insides of this being reminded me of that District Twelve boy, Colin, before the bloodbath had started. The disturbing sight of his insides flying every which way before landing on the ground with there wet and sickening splats made me realize just how sick and disturbing this game really was. Colin was the first to die, but he sure wasn't going to be the last. Twenty two more were going to die after him. All meeting the same fate as him in different ways. It made me hate the games even more then I already had. And I didn't even think that was possible until I had seen death right in front of my own eyes. Seeing it on T.V and seeing it in front of you were two different things, you felt different seeing it happen in front of you, and I could smell the foul odor of his shattered body. No, being there was so much different then seeing it in comfort of your home or even your district. At home, you felt safe knowing that you were still there and not where they were. In the arena, I knew that I could easily end up just like him. Dead.

I didn't want to die. The thing about that was, the rest of the tributes here didn't want to die either, we were all in the same dangerous situation, and out of the seven tributes that have died, I bet six of them didn't go down without a fight.

That was a problem for me, fighting. I wasn't a fighter. Never was. How am I supposed to go against the other tributes? Especially the careers. There was no way that I could go against them in a fair fight. But then again, nothing's ever fair in the arena. I could hide until there's only two of us left before throwing a knife into their back. But would I make it that far? And if I did, would I be able to kill that person? I don't know. I really don't know.

I put the throwing knife in my left hand into one of the backpack holsters as I heard the sound of jungle foliage crashing and snapping to my right. I quickly looked in the direction of where the sound was coming from to see that a part of the jungle was being destroyed. And even worse, it was close.

How could I have not noticed it? What was coming through that jungle? A tribute? A mutt? Whatever it was it seemed like it was huge. That scared me. It was big and unknown and close.  
I didn't even have time to turn around and run away from when the figure crashed from the jungle greens.

I turned away as quickly as I could, but I saw what had crashed through the jungle. I recognized him. He was that guy my father had been keeping under guard. That District Three giant that called himself Tharizdun. When I had last seen him, he had blood running down from his mouth. That was really scary, because that meant that he had possibly killed someone before the games even started. But who? All the other tributes had made it into the arena perfectly fine. So who had he killed? His escort? His stylist? One of the peacekeepers that were guarding him? My father? No. He couldn't have killed one of the peacekeepers, they had weapons, they had guns, they could have easily killed him if he posed a threat to them.

Whoever he had hurt before he was going to do same to me. So I turned around and ran. I ran as fast as I could to get away from this murderous giant.

My legs gave a slow start and I could feel that he was rapidly gaining on me. But as soon as I started building momentum I was managing to stay away from him. I looked behind me to see that he was nearly twenty feet away. He was so close. So dangerously close to me, and it only intensified my fear.

I ran as fast as I could, but as always, I couldn't run fast enough. I had to force myself to run faster. But it was easier said then done to force yourself to sprint faster that you could normally make yourself move. But I tried anyway. I had to try. I had to do it. I pushed myself to move faster. I made my legs work harder. I gritted my teeth and did it.

I ran through the rough and tangled jungle greens and underbrush while avoiding low hanging vines, moss covered rocks, tree roots and other obstacles in my way. It was hard work, it wasn't easy to avoid everything. And I didn't. I had to run through some vines that snapped as my body forced my way through. I felt tips of branches cut across my cheeks. My shoulders scraped across tree trunks. Things on the lower level cut across my calves as I ran through them. I didn't care though, I hardly noticed the tiny little pricks that cut me as I ran away from a monster that was trying to kill me. The only reason I even noticed them was because I knew that I had scraped them.

I looked behind me for a split second to see that he was a little less then fifteen feet away from me. He was way too close for comfort. And from what I saw from that split second look, he wasn't even trying to avoid the obstacles in front of him. He was crashing through them and didn't seem to feel any sort of pain what so ever. Not only that, but he didn't even seem to slow down as he ripped his way through. It was scary. But he added the fear factor with that flash of steel he was swinging around. This was too much too fast.

I continued to run through the jungle and avoided anything in my path as I heard his heavy footsteps crashing through everything in his path.

Through the foliage ahead of me, I noticed a fallen log ahead of me. It wasn't too big, so I could possibly jump over it. I didn't see any other way to go. Would it be better to change course? Or would it be better to just keep going forward?

I didn't even have time to think as I felt my body getting ready to jump over the log, that was bigger then I thought it was. It was taller then I thought it had been, and it startled me.  
My body started to slow down on instinct, but I was still moving forwards, and I attempted to jump the log.

I wasn't traveling fast enough as I leaped up and tried to get over the fallen log, only to get stuck halfway over the top. Crap! This wasn't good! There was a psychopath behind me and rapidly gaining with every millisecond. Get over Ember! Get over!

With a mixture of fear and determination I clawed the log with my hands and kicked with my feet to get over the obstacle in my way. I didn't want it to end like this. Not like this. Not by a man that was so dangerous that my father and four other peacekeepers had to guard him until it was his time to get into the arena. I saw how he looked at the young girls when we were in the training center. He looked at us like we were objects to him. Objects that he took an extreme interests him. And right now, I was his next target. His next victim.

Whatever he was planning on doing to me and the other girls I didn't want to know. That's why I desperately clawed my way over the log to escape the monster behind me.

My body rapidly inched forward as clawed forward as my fear continued to grow at a startling rate. With ever passing millisecond I felt as if I was in infinity more danger then the last. I felt my heart start to beat at an alarming rate. I felt my breathing get so much heavier. I felt a mixture of ice water and energy course through my veins as I crossed the last few scraps before jumping off the log.

Just as I jumped off the log I felt a gush of wind hit my back at almost point blank range. He had almost grabbed me! That made me run away even faster then I had thought was possible for me. Running was never my strong suit, but right now, I was running faster then I ever had in my entire life, and it was making my body travel awkwardly. My arms were flailing around. My back was arching forwards. My feet were off balance as I felt myself stumbling forwards with speed I never experienced before.

Never feeling this awkward with my body caused me to be unbalanced before I fell to the ground at great speed. My feet left the ground as the front of my body traveled quickly to the ground. I saw the ground nearing towards me as I placed my hands in front of me to stop my face from hitting the ground, and felt a tingle rip across my palms as they slide across the rough ground before my right shoulder roughly hit the ground before the entire right side of my body hit the ground and started to slide. Pain ripped across the right side of my body as it continued to slide. But surprisingly, the pain was more of a tiny sting then actual pain. Why? Why was that happening? Was I too scared to feel pain?

I couldn't think much as I looked behind me to see District Three's Tharizdun easily jump over the fallen log I had so much trouble getting over.

I got to my feet as fast as I could, but I saw the world spin and tumble as pain erupted in my stomach. Did he catch up? He had done it so quickly. I had been too slow. No. No. I wasn't going to die. Not now.

Remembering that I was still holding the throwing knife in my right hand I made my body stop rolling and faced my enemy.

My vision was blurred and everything was swimming around me. It was like I was underwater, nothing in my vision was fully clear, but I could still see some things through my hazy vision.  
I looked for my enemy. I was going to get him with this knife. He wasn't like the animal that I had struggled to kill, he was a monster. A complete monster. He needed to be stopped. If there was one person that I knew deserved to die it was him. I wouldn't have killed anyone else so willingly, not even the careers who people also deem as monsters. But this guy was different, even though the careers killed other tributes during the bloodbath, this guy was worse.

I now remembered something that I heard Nessa Johnson say to Max Starling. If we ever see Tharizdun, we run, we run as fast as we can and don't look back. If he catches me, I'll have to suffer his touchier before dying a painful death. Her voice was nothing but fear as she told Max what to do if they ever meet him.

I don't know what he did, but I knew that it was bad if that little twelve year old girl was that afraid of him. But this was going to end now.

I arched my right arm back quickly before I threw the knife at him. I saw the blur that was my knife spin through the air towards the giant before the knife drove itself into his stomach. I had missed him! I had missed the spot I had been aiming for!

The next thing I knew, I saw a figure holding a mace above me.

As a reflex, I rolled my body away from the mace as I heard the whoosh of the solid bludgeoning weapon drive downwards before smashing into the ground beside me. The blow was so powerful I swear that I felt the full force of the vibration where it had hit the ground, even though I was away from where it had directly hit.

I felt the air leave my body in pure shock.

I wanted to get away from him. I really wanted to get away from him.

I didn't even get to try and get up before I felt a solid metal object smash into the left side of my body at almost the same time my body left the ground. I didn't even know what had happened as the world blurred even more and the world started to spin round and round as my entire body started to feel as if it was being hit every half second. I felt my body start to roll down an angled hill. I didn't try to stop myself from rolling down the hill, I was too shocked to do anything.

Suddenly, my body stopped moving and I recovered from some of my shock. I still couldn't think straight, my world was still a blur, and I could feel that my body was acting strangely, but I did know that I needed to get out of here. But that was impossible, how could I escape from this monster who was most likely running down that hill I rolled down as I spoke? How could I possibly get away from him after tumbling down a hill that was who knows how high? How was it that I didn't feel that much pain even though I had been hit in the side with a mace? Or after I tumbled down a hill? How was this possible? What was happening to me?

Don't think about that Ember, just get out of here!

Even though I was confused about the situation and was scared out of my mind I did what my brain told me to do and got up as quickly as I possibly could before I started to sprint in the general direction that was away from the hill I fell down. It was hard to tell which way was which when your head was swimming in a waves of black, white, and grey.

It was hard for me to even more my feet forward. It was like my body wanted to collapse, but at the same time, it wouldn't allow itself to do that. I wasn't tired, but my body seemed to have mixed feelings within itself.

I stumbled and wobbled around till I couldn't move anymore. Did I get away from him? Why did I feel this way? I never felt this way in my life before. What was this? I had mixed feelings of feeling tired, but at the same time I didn't. I felt a little hurt, even though I had taken in who knows what. Was I breathing heavily? Was I breathing at all? I don't know, I couldn't even feel anything I was doing anymore as my vision grew weaker and weaker.

I felt my feet lose their strength as my entire body started to shut down. I didn't fight it, I let my body do what it wanted as I started to feel tired myself. What was this? One moment I wasn't tired, the next moment I felt as if I going to go to sleep for the rest of the day. I let my knees hit the ground before my body collapsed on the ground and let my face bury itself in the damp grass and my vision rapidly turned black.

As I felt my body weaken, my mind told me to do two things before I blacked out, get off the underbrush so that I would be covered by them, and cover yourself with whatever was on the ground around you. I didn't want to do it, I was so tired. But I did it anyway, because the back of my mind was telling me that if I didn't do exactly what it said, I was going to die. So I did what it told me to do, I gathered my strength and forced myself to lift my back up before grabbing the underbrush and getting it away from my body. I did the same with my legs and my head, even though they felt like balls of lead.

When I had gotten the underbrush off the back of my body, I weakly grabbed handfuls of the earth before placing it on top of my body as I began to black out.

I dropped the earth I grabbed on my chest, on my stomach, on my legs. I then started to smear the damp earth across my face and arms before spreading it across my entire body. Would this even help? Did making the underbrush rise again help cover me? Did it even rise? Would my half assed camouflage attempt even make a difference right now?

I was so tired. How far had I ran?

There were a lot of things that I didn't understand right now, but I knew a few thing for sure, I've never felt so scared, or ran so hard, or felt this way in my entire life.

**District Three's Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone's POV  
**  
Where the fuck is she!? I had been chasing the little bitch before I had hit her across the body with my mace. Her body escaped the ground before suddenly falling into oblivion. How could this have happened? How could she have disappeared like that?

I continued to swing my mace at everything that she could be hiding in. I swung it at the trees, maybe the trees were hollow. I kicked the ground. Maybe she was hiding in there. I destroyed logs, I turned over rocks, I looked everywhere a little fifteen year old girl could possibly go into. And found nothing.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Where was she!? I smashed at another tree when I noticed that the ground ahead of me was not even close to being level. I looked some more and saw that I was standing on top of a hill. I looked down some more to see that there was a bottom of the hill. Maybe this is where she went, she couldn't have gotten far.

I ran down the hill and came to the bottom to discover nothing. Nothing but the green jungle in front of me. Where the fuck was she? She has to be around here somewhere, that little bitch couldn't have gotten far. Not with the way she ran.

I had seen girls run away from me before, they tried to escape me, but they couldn't out run me, they couldn't outrun a god. Try as they might they couldn't escape from me. Nobody could escape me. But then someone did, a little bitch squealed on me before those bastard peacekeepers threw me into asylum. I should have seen it coming, she was acting weird before she escaped. I thought she was scared, I never thought that she was going to try and escape.  
That girl escaped by climbing into one of the body bags that was meant for the dead. I don't know how I missed it. How I missed that someone was alive. I thought she was dead. I should have known better, I hadn't picked a piece of her body to rip out before killing her. Her nose. I was going to rip out her nose because she had said that she couldn't stand the smell of her prison. She wouldn't of needed to smell it anymore without her nose.

But now another had escaped me. Another had avoided her fate. Another had escaped my judgment. Fuck! This girl was nothing special in terms of running away, there were lots of other females that ran faster then her, and I caught them. What was so different about this situation?

I smashed the trees in front of me with my mace and heard the bark shatter off the solid trunks. She had to be hitting somewhere! I kicked at the greens to find her if she was hiding in the tall ferns. I smashed anything that was hollow with my mace. She had to be around here somewhere!

I placed the mace back on my back before I pulled out the machete that hung at my hip and started to slice through the overhanging obstacles to see if she was hiding behind any of those annoying little things. I sliced through all the hanging greens in front of me, and found nothing. I continued to search through the jungle, and found nothing.

What the fuck!? How could this girl escape me? How could she escape me?  
I shouted out in anger thinking of how this girl was making a fool out of me. I got some revenge off of her father by cutting his eyes out with my teeth, but I wanted more. I wanted to add this girl to my legacy and let her father suffer.

Varen. I will get both of them. I will get the daughter. And it'll finish off the father. I'll get my revenge on both of them. I swear it, I will get my revenge.

I pulled the knife she had thrown into my stomach and watched the blood splash out as the blade came out of my body. She thought she could kill me like that? She was wrong. Something like her could never kill me.

A/N: Well, as you can possibly tell, I don't think that I can update as fast as I've been in the past. Ah well.

So, what do you guys think of this chase scene?

Random questions: Which two tributes would you least want to be captured/attacked/encountered by (except for Tharizdun and Alexander) and why? And if you had to choose, which two tributes would you want as an ally and why.


	32. Never forgotten

**Day Four. Mid-Morning.**

**District Ten's Life Lee's POV**

I suspected as much in the beginning, Rayne's multi blond hair wasn't all natural, in fact, almost all of it was a different kind of blond then what it really was. Obviously. I can't think of anyone who has natural multi couloured hair. I don't think even the Capital citizens had natural green or blue hair, despite how real looking they had it. There was no such thing.

When I brought her out in the rain and removed her clothes to clean her body up, I discovered that along with the blood and dirt on her body and face, I noticed that her blond hair was bleeding the different colours of blond onto the ground. The colours of blond mixed into the rain hitting the mix of concrete and greenery that grew by our feet. She still had some of the multi blond colours in her hair, but they were all faded colours now.

From what I'm seeing now, I'd guess that Rayne's natural hair colour is a light blond. I think she really should keep it a one colour blond, I'm not really a big fan of dye. Maybe it was because the only kind of dye we get at home was either dirt, manure if you were unfortunate enough to get it on you, or blood. I saw two of the three run off of Rayne's body at the moment. It reminded me of home. I looked like that often, after all, dirt was a common thing around the district with animals and such running around the dirt roads along with the people having to work with the dirt. Manure was also a common occurrence because of all the livestock as well. Sometimes I'd see the young kids throw that shit at the district residents for laughs before running away in a fit of giggles as the victim reacted in disgust. I didn't find it funny, I found those kids to be immature, I felt sorry for the victim, they didn't deserve to have shit thrown at them, especially in the district we came from, the people had enough to worry about without those kids pulling those stunts on them. The kids should have been doing something besides slinging shit at the unfortunate people that just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Plus, I hate to think of what the peacekeepers would do to those young kids if they ever caught them. They showed no mercy to anyone, not even the young.

Then there was the blood. The peacekeepers were an obvious example with their torcherous methods, they had blood on their white uniforms after whippings and executions. The people that cut apart animals also had various parts of their bodies temporally dyed with blood until they washed it off. I was no different. I cut apart animals before selling them on the market or keeping the butchered animal parts for myself, so I was often dyed with blood. I didn't mind though, I was used to it, I had done it many times before.

The farm. The animals. I had to run all of it on my own. After everyone in my family died, I had to run the entire thing on my own, and it wasn't easy considering that I had to start from less then scratch.

Sure I had the house. Sure I had the farm. But that was it, that was all I really had with me. I needed to buy new crop seeds. I had to buy new animals. Then there were the tools that needed fixing, the ground that needed to be dug up and seeded, the fences that needed to be rebuilt. Hell, everything needed to be fixed one way or another. It was hard work, but it was do or die for me, nobody had any work for someone like me, so I had to make do on my own on the family farm, and by the time I had even started to work on the farm again I was in dept.

I was in dept because of the higher ups in the district. Papa tried to stop them from taking our crops and animals after Mama's death because he knew that without them we wouldn't stand a chance of living. We'd starve. How could we survive the winter without the meat that we got from butchering the animals? Without our crops that we grew? How could we live without all that? Papa tried to explain all that to them. But the higher ups refused to listen to him, all they were saying was that they were owed for the care they gave Mama. They wanted us to pay for those so called doctors care. Even though all they did was leave her for dead. They didn't care though, all they wanted was what they were owed. It made me sick on how they thought they could treat like that.

Papa tried and tried to get them to give us some time, but they wouldn't listen, they wanted their pay then and now. They said that we were given a week to mourn over Mama, and that week was now finished. It was frustrating to say the least. And that frustration was beginning to show on both the higher ups and Papa as started to have the expressions of anger on their faces. I kept my frustration in because I knew that it wouldn't have solved anything.

I wish I had told Papa that.

Then things quickly escalated into violence. The higher ups said that if Papa wasn't willing to pay them, they'd take it by force. And yet, even after they said that, Papa still refused to give them the crops and animals. He stubbornly refused them. Even though the higher ups had some peacekeepers by their side.

I didn't like the situation as much as he did, I mean, what right did they have for taking the crops and animals? They claimed to have done the right thing for Mama, but all they did was isolate her from everyone because of this so called cancer thing that she had. But I knew the truth. Both Papa and I knew the truth though. There was no cancer.

We asked people around the district about cancer after the so called doctors didn't tell us anything about it. We were suspicious, and were even more so when everyone in the district said that they didn't know anything about what this so called cancer was.

The so called doctors said she died from the cancer and there was nothing they could have done for her. Mama didn't die of cancer, she died of starvation. They isolated her from everything, even food and water for a week and let her die without a shred of remorse. The evidence was clear when Mama returned to us.

When they returned the body to us, they said that the cancer had gotten her, they said that they did everything they could. They said that they had to isolate her. They said that she wasn't expected to live long anyway. But I knew they were lying. Her body was starved and covered with flies and maggots, just like a rotten corpse after days of exposure. They could have isolated her, but that didn't mean that they had to isolate the food and water from her either.

Seeing her like that really hit me hard, I cried for days and felt nothing but sorrow towards her. Nothing could cheer me up. Nothing.

Why did they have to take her away? She didn't do anything. She was perfectly fine. She was a loving woman who's faith was strong. How did this happen? It wasn't fair. All of this wasn't fair.

Now here were the people, the higher ups, coming to collect from us for this fraud. I felt bitter anger towards them, but I didn't get to say anything, because Papa, the higher ups, and the head peacekeeper were all shouting at each other. Harsh words were exchanged between them. Threats were made. The peacekeepers were calculating everything with their cold, harsh, sadistic eyes while watching everything moment of the verbal fight. None of them talked except the head peacekeeper. None except the leader. They just watched, and calculated with those eyes of theirs.

Then without warning, words turned physical. My Papa, the friendliest man I had ever known, raised a finger towards the higher ups. I knew that was a terrible mistake, and I was scared. I was going to shout at him to stop before he did something terrible, because even if he wasn't going to hit the higher ups, they'd see it as a threat.

I remember my Papa's words that he shouted while taking a single step closer to one of the higher up's while pointing a finger at his face.

"Now listen here you-" Papa said angrily.

I wanted to shout at him to stop, but my voice was drowned beneath the thundering sounds of assault rifle bullets.

I screamed out in horror as crimson red flowers bloomed on either side of Papa. Small ones at his chest, big ones in his back. I couldn't stand those flowers, I wish I never saw them. I wish they never appeared.

Twenty four bullets entered and exited his body before he fell to the ground with blood pouring out of his chest, back, and mouth as it started to stain the dirt road dark red. I was in total shock. This had all happened so fast. First it was just arguing, normal arguing, and now my Papa was on his back, with forty eight bloody holes in his body with blood running out of his mouth, chest, and back.

How did this happen?

I ran over to my Papa and pleaded him not to die. I remember feeling the tears building up in my eyes as I looked him in the eyes and told him not to die. I knew that there was only the tiniest sliver of a chance that he wouldn't die, but I wanted to believe that the only man that I gave all of my heart to would live from twenty four bullet wounds. Everyone in my family had already left me, he couldn't abandon me too. Not now. Not after everything that's happened to us. Not with what was happening now.

"Papa!" I shouted. My voice nothing but desperation and sadness. "Don't die!"

His only response was a painful cough that sent squirts of blood into the air as his light sea green eyes started to roll back. "No!" I shouted desperately "Papa don't-"

BOOM! The sound of a gun being fired interrupted my plea for him to live before his head instantly sprayed my face with blood and brain matter. The last living member of family besides me, was dead from the gunfire of twenty five bullets and fifty bullet wounds. And all I did was stand back and watch it happen. All I did was say 'don't die!' Instead of getting him to the medical center, I watched him die. And that was one of the worst feelings that I ever felt.

I looked up in pure horror to see the eyes of a young boy, a boy that couldn't have been older then nineteen, holding a handgun that was pointed towards the spot that blew a hole in my father's head. The boy stoor at us with those cold, sadistic eyes of his like we were nothing to him. Like we were far below him. Like we were nothing but dirt to him. It made me so angry at him, how could he just shoot my father like that, right in front of me. So easily. Just like that.

But I was so overcome with sadness that I didn't even feel the anger until two days later, after I had cried my eyes out while clutching my father's body while the higher ups took all our crops and animals.

I cried all day that day. I cried until sunset. And only then did I snap out of my trance. Only then did I notice that ants were crawling on my father's dead body. Only then did I notice that I was kneeling in a pool of wet red soil. Only then did I notice the flies buzzing all over the both of us. Only then did I realize that all our crops and animals were gone. Only then did I notice that everything that I held dear to me, was gone for good.

I felt dead inside. I felt empty. I felt depressed. I felt horrible. I felt hollow.

Why? Why did god have to do this to us? We were a good family, a great family. We weren't perfect but we were family. I didn't like some of them but they were all part of my family. We had our faith, so why did we have to suffer all these tragedies?

Grandma, grandpa, mama, papa, they were all only childs, so I didn't have any uncles or aunts. My little sister Faerie was also dead. So I had nobody left with me. Nobody was going to take me in. Nobody was going to take care of me. Nobody. I was all alone in this world.

But I wasn't just going to let my family die out because I felt sad for myself. No, that would have been a waste of their lives, and I really didn't want them to see me go that way. I didn't want to die like Grandpa did. I didn't want to commit suicide.

After days of feeling down, I buried my Papa next to Mama, grandma, grandpa, and Faerie. All buried in the yard next to our house. They were together again, at least up in a higher plane then I was. I said my last goodbyes before I started to work on the farm again.

I worked with what I had. The broken tools and left over seeds. I had to work on those things, those things that had been broken by the higher ups, who else would have done it? The hoe handles were broken in half. The plows couldn't move because I didn't have the strength to move them through the hard earth myself, I needed the animals to do that for me. The shovels handles were also broken. Everything was a complete wreck and needed fixing or replacement. But I couldn't afford to buy new tools or even the equipment to fix them. I also didn't have very many left over seeds to plant. It was hell, and I didn't think that I would be able to make enough to sustain myself, let alone grow enough to feed myself and have enough left over to sell.

I had to work on the farm by myself, in the hot sun, with broken tools. It was more then just hard, and I didn't get many things grown that year. In fact, I barley made enough food to support myself, but I was used to being hungry, and rationing wasn't anything new to me.

My whole life then turned into a constant battle of work and survival. And always, always did I only have barley enough for me and only me.

I was thirteen and the sole heir of the farm, and it was living hell. But I didn't complain about it, what good would that have done?

People said that I should have gone into the orphanage, but I didn't want to go there. If I went in there, I'd be giving up the family farm to those that killed my Mama and Papa. I'd be leaving behind everything my family had ever owned. It would be a crime to just give up everything my family had. And those kids in the orphanage, they weren't much better off then I was. I heard stories of kids being abused, thrown out, starved, and more. So living there in my opinion, was worse then living by myself.

But even so, I watched the other kids my age running around, playing in the district and having fun with other kids. I wanted to be like them. Even though we were all starved, miserable, and lacking hope, I wanted to be more like them and less like me. Because unlike me, they were having fun, going to school, making friends, and all other kinds of joyous things that I had done when I was younger. I didn't have time for any of that anymore though, I was focused on surviving. More so then the rest of the district. And even if I tired to be like them, I doubted that I could do what they were doing. I wanted a friend, but I simply didn't have the time to have one, to make one.

Working on the farm by one's self was lonely with only the animals, back breaking pain, and the hot sun to keep you company. The other kids were so lucky. I envied them. They had so much more then I did. Not wealth like though, not a lot of us had much wealth anyway, but they had family, friends, lives that could be lived. My life was work, and only work. Even when I wasn't working on the farm I was working, there was always work somewhere else. There seemed to be no end in sight for me, always work for me. I didn't like it, but I knew that I had to do it.

It was no way to live, but it was the only way for me to live.

I looked down to Rayne to see the blood, dirt, and dye wash away from her as I thought of why I had decided for her to be my ally. I admired her for her bravery back in the training center, and she was good with memory, like myself, who could never forget anything, no matter how terrible the situation was. And she was strong and fast. But was there more?

I looked at her again, seeing that thin body of her's, tall and thin. I now think that it made me think of the kids back home in District Ten. Those hungry kids that I wanted to help. I wanted to give them food so that they at least wouldn't starve to death, but of course, I didn't have anything to give away. I had nothing to offer, and it made me feel useless. Useless to stop the tragity that struck the district like a plague.

Starvation. Heat strokes. Out of control animals. Murderous peacekeepers. I couldn't stop any of them. Hell, I couldn't really do anything for them except maybe say sorry for their losses. I was damn well useless in the district. And I was almost damn well useless here in the arena.

I felt tears start to build up in my eyes thinking of all the stuff that I could have, should have, and would have done if I only had done it.

The district for example, I could have given some of the district folks a job. They could have helped me on the farm instead of me working by my lonesome self. That could have increased crop production or animal butchering. It would have helped me and the worker, and maybe some other people in the district if that worker and I produced more food. Or I could have taken a couple minutes of my time to help someone in the market chop apart some animals. I was skilled with an ax, I could have helped them. Or maybe I could have shared some of my faith with others. It wouldn't be much sharing, but at least they might feel a little better after.

Hopefully.

Then there was the arena and our fight with Shoney. I could have ran faster. I could have been more on guard. I could have attacked Shoney at the front door. I could have done a lot of things. But instead, I didn't. And the only thing I could really do was clean someone. I was useless in a fight, and instead of saving Rayne, Rayne had to save me. I may have stopped Shoney from destroying Rayne, but really, I had to be saved more times then I had helped her.

Guess this is why my family died, because I didn't do anything to help them.

Tears then started to flood out of my eyes as I thought of how useless I was. Then and now, I was useless. So god damn fucking useless.

"Mom." I heard a weak voice say suddenly. Mom? I looked down to Rayne, the only person that could have possibly said that and looked at her with a mix of curiosity and worry. "Mom," I heard Rayne say again weakly. Why was she calling me mom? "I'm ok," She continued weakly "I'm just hurt a little, just a few scratches."

**District Six's Rayne Page's POV**

I looked at the blurred figure in front of me. I didn't recognize the figure, as it had no descriptive features that I could recognize, hell, it had no features, but it was in the shape of a human, a woman. How did I know that it was a woman? It could just as easily be a man. Someone, my mind, just told me that it was a woman, and somehow, it just felt right to think that that shape in front of me was a woman, it just seemed, right.

Then somehow, I knew what that figure was, it was my mother, and she was crying. Why was she crying? I just got in a fight with one of the district kids, and I had beaten him. Yes he had put up a fight and had hurt me, but it wasn't something to cry over. I swear mother, you worry too much.

Don't cry mom. I'm alright. Really, I'm alright. I'm just a little hurt right now that's all. This is nothing to cry over mom, I just got a little roughed up, it's not even that bad.

It really wasn't, there were a lot of worse things that could have happened. I mean, all I did was get knocked around a little, all he did was make me disorientated. Nothing much.

Mom, you shouldn't cry over this, because I'm not crying over it. In fact, I don't feel hurt at all, I feel tired and dizzy. Sleep, I wanted to go to sleep, but I can't go to sleep with you staring at me.

Don't stare at me mom, I said I'm fine. Damn mom, you can be so annoying sometimes, I'm not a little girl anymore, I'm seventeen years old now, you don't need worry over me so much. I don't need to be protected from the dangers of the district, I know the dangers now, unlike when I was a little girl. But I quickly learned about them.

Mom, I don't know if you remember this, but remember when I was five and I knew that my future work would be cutting down branches from redwood trees? I do. So I decided to start learning how to climb even though I was only five years old without you or dad supervising me. You guys were out someplace and I was alone, and I saw the older kids climbing and cutting down tree branches. So I went outside into the district and looked around for the perfect tree to climb.

I then found it in the middle of my journey, a sturdy looking tree that didn't look too high up for a little five year old girl like myself. I felt ready to climb, and even though it was my first time climbing, I felt like I could do it. I wanted to be ready for my future.

I climbed up one of those small trees that were only about thirty feet, or was it forty feet tall? Either way I climbed up about twenty feet before a branch snapped and I lost my footing before tumbling down the tree and hit every branch along the way down. I broke my right leg and received several cuts to the body, but no serious cuts, and I wasn't dead. It hurt like a bitch, but I wasn't dead, not even close. But at the time, I thought I was dying. The pain in my body was like wildfire, and everywhere, especially in my right leg. I think I shouted really loud too.

But you were acting like I had died when you saw me in the doctor's office. Your warm hazel eyes were filled with tears as you ran towards me and held me before shouting at me how dangerous it was to climb by myself. You also said that I shouldn't learn to climb till I was older, and when you or dad were around to supervise me while I climbed so that this wouldn't happen again. Your eyes were full of worry, and that made me feel sad. I knew that I shouldn't have done it, but I didn't think that it was that bad.

The pain of a broken leg and the worried look you gave me made me cry for the first time since I was born. Do you remember that mom? That was one of the extremely rare times that I cried.  
I looked at the figure that was a blur with only hazel eyes that could only be my mother's, and saw the figure not moving at all, her eyes fixed on one spot. Me.

No, you don't remember? Don't worry mom, I didn't remember it till just now. Why are you just a blur mom? Why are your eyes the only thing that I can see clearly?

Why indeed?

The world started to turn black as my mother's warm eyes fadded into darkness. What was happening? Why was my mother disappearing? For some reason, it made my body feel lighter, made me feel like I was in less pain. As she was disappearing, my body hurt less. Why?

Mom? Mom? Where are you going?

**A/N: I'm not really sure about this chapter. I hope I didn't make it too emo or something.**

**Life is the hardest tribute to write, but I love it.**

**Oh yes, anyone got any constructive criticism for me? Or just criticism?**


	33. Gone but not the end

**Day Four. Mid morning.**

**Arrowe Winter's POV**

Even thought it was strange, and unnatural, it wasn't that bad being around the guys while showering naked. I've never done anything like this back home, and I probably wouldn't want to do it again. Once was enough for me. Adventurous me would only go so far on some things.

I was now putting the thoughts into the back of my head, some place far where I wouldn't be able to remember it easily as I packed some spare, dry clothes into my backpack along with a first aid kit, some food, and a couple half litter plastic bottles filled with water.

"How are you feeling Lynsa?" I asked my now only patrol partner now that Shoney was gone.

"Not too bad," Lynsa told me with hints of embarrassment in her voice "just hope nobody saw me naked though, I forgot about the cameras being everywhere."

"I'm sure your fine." I told her knowing full well that the Capital censored nudity every single time it happened. I remember the times when I was back in District Nine and was only a part of the audience watching the games being broadcasted. It was the norm for us to be watching the games, it was expected that you watched it, there was no way around it. You missed an important part of the games, you had to have a legit excuse on why you didn't see it. When people asked why you hadn't seen this part or that part, it was because you were sleeping, going to the bathroom, you were dying, or you were blind. If you didn't have any one of those excuses, you were expected to know about what was happening.

But there were times where the Capital censored the broadcast and turned some parts of it pitch black. I didn't mind it, I mean, I wouldn't of wanted the world to see me taking a shit or whatever, but when there were girls taking their clothes off and the Capital censored it, there were times where some teenagers, and even some adults from time to time that got pretty disappointed.

It was the same with the guys as well, whenever a guy was about to get naked, the screen would blackout before girls and women would start groaning and moaning and complaining. It was always funny to hear their disappointment whenever the screen blacked out.

I always wondered why they did that. I mean, they'd show you the bloody death of a tribute, but they wouldn't show them naked. Why was that? Not that it really matters anyway.

"Unless the Capital's broadcasting the games uncensored to the Capital residents." I heard our youngest ally say while having hints of laughter in her voice. " I mean, the Capital wants what it wants, and what's going to please them as much as seeing that hot blond girl and a preteen naked?" A short pause came. "Oh yes, and you guy can entertain the girls." She said it as if it was an after thought.

"Doesn't matter if the Capital's doing that or not," I told Howl without looking at her as I zipped up my backpack and slung it on my back before extending my arms through the shoulder straps. "If they are indeed doing what you say they might be doing, it doesn't matter anyway, we've already shown ourselves to them, too late to unshow ourselves." That was the only thing I could think of saying right now for that situation, we had shown ourselves to the cameras, and if the Capital was watching us like that, then so be it. I wasn't going to be doing it again anyway.

Well, enough with the shower paranoia, I was just going to treat this as something that we did back home when it rained. During the rain season, we'd do one of three things. One, we'd either shower outside with our clothes on, after all, the opposite genders were around, so none of us wanted to be embarrassed out in public. Two, we'd gather up the water and heat it up so that we could have a warm bath or quick warm shower inside the house. Or three, we'd save the water. Most of the time, my family did a combination of one and three, we'd save up on water while showering in the rain.

Harvesting crops is hard work, and we'd need that water for work as we worked through out the day, especially the summer season when everything was its hottest and the days were long. I remember that during the summer harvest season, I'd usually go through the water in all three of my canteens within several hours, despite how much I'd try and ration it. It was always a relief when the canteen runners came to my section and offered to refill my canteens. The runners were very useful to us harvesters due to the fact that we couldn't abandon what we were doing. We can't stop cutting down wheat for two minutes to refill our canteens to save our lives, you leave your job you get punished by the peacekeepers, simple as that.

There were times where I did abandon my section of the field to refill my canteens, I just couldn't wait for the canteen runners to get to my section, I was too thirsty to wait, so I took the risk and went to the water refill station that was only open to people that were working on the fields that were supplying the Capital with grain. I for one didn't feel like dying for the Capital, so I went to the refill station and filled my canteens up when the peacekeepers weren't looking before running back to where I had been working before.

There were times that I had almost been caught, but I'd always make it back in time before the peacekeepers noticed that I had been gone. My family told my that it was dangerous for me to continue to take on those risks. They were worried that one day, I'd get caught because of those risks. Fortunately, I never got caught. Wither it was from good timing or just plain luck I'd never know, all I knew what that I didn't get caught, and that was good enough for me.

I didn't take those risks on a whim though, I didn't just take a brainless risk though, I thought about it first and planned accordingly. I knew what I was doing, I wasn't stupid. There were risks, then there was just plain crazy. I did the former rather then the later.

"Now enough about entertaining the Capital with our naked bodies," I told the career pack that was missing Shoney who was dead, Eva who abandoned us for whatever reason she did, and Tharizdun who was out hunting. "I'm going into the city part of the arena."

"What for?" Lucifer asked curiously "Griffin, Howl, and I do the city, you and Lynsa do the jungle, you know the jungle while we know the city."

"I'm curious about the city," I told Lucifer as I checked the weapons attached to my belt, a seven inch combat knife placed inside a black, hard plastic scabbard as well as an eighteen inch machete that hung right beside my knife in it's hard plastic scabbard. "I've seen the jungle, I'm just wondering what the city's like."

"This change from the jungle to the city wouldn't have anything to do with Shoney's death would it?" Lucifer asked as I finished getting ready.

"No," I told him before turning around to face him "this doesn't have anything to do with Shoney." I wasn't lying, but I wasn't exactly telling the truth either. I did want to see the city to see what it was like compared to the jungle. There could be some interesting things in the city that weren't in the jungle, there might even be things that I could climb there. I could climb the ruined buildings that were housed there. And while I did like the jungle, the city interested me in ways that new things interest an adventurer.

But I was also going out into the city because of Shoney's death. Shoney was a close ally, and I liked him, and he died because he wanted to explore the city and get tired so that he could fall asleep. Shoney was a career, so the person he fought has to at least be kind of injured. If I found them, so much the better, I could finish them off. I still feel bad over his death, I mean, we were going to have to disband and kill each other later on in the game, but as long as we were allies, part of a group within the careers, I should have helped him watch his back. Until we turned on each other, I should have been with him. I don't think that it was a stroke of bad luck that Shoney meet up with other tributes, there are some tributes that like to hunt at night. It had happened before in previous games, and this game is no exception to night stalkers.

I looked over to Lynsa and asked her "coming Lynsa?"

"I'm ready." She said as she slung her quiver over her right shoulder with her left hand as her right hand was holding her bow.

"Ok," I said to Lynsa before I turned towards Lucifer and told him what was going to happen. "We're leaving for the city, you guys stay here and guard the cornucopia."

"Who died and made you leader?" I heard Howl mockingly say to me. I looked over to her to see her sling a crossbow that was over half her height and wider then her tiny frame over her back. The crossbow looked big and heavy for someone of her size, but as she moved towards me, I saw that she seemed to be moving around with it perfectly fine. "I'm going with you to the city."

I didn't want Howl to come with me, she was one of the serious careers, not like Lynsa who was could actually be nice and fun with be with all the time. I didn't really like the attitudes of Griffin, Lucifer and Howl and how deadly serious they were in this arena.

All three of them killed during the bloodbath, that meant that they had no problem killing other kids, and honestly, that scared me. I'm just glad that I'm on their side until the right time comes.

"I think you should stay here," I told Howl, not really wanting her to tag along with Lynsa and I. "The group needs an archer to help protect the camp."

"An excellent point," Howl said like she had remembered something important, it made me think that she might actually stay with her own kind, but somehow, that smirk that she continued to wear on her face said something completely different. It might not mean anything though, she wears that smirk all the time. "Lynsa, you stay here, I'm going to the city."

This was another thing that I didn't like about the other careers, they thought that they were above everyone else. They thought that they were better then everyone else. Griffin with hitting Lynsa and knocking her unconscious as well as taking out a couple of her teeth in the process. Lucifer with her leadership complex. And Howl with her cocky attitude.

"I'd rather prefer Lynsa to be with me." I told Howl, hoping that she'd give up on this.

"Look," Howl said while looking right at me with seriousness in those eyes of hers "I've got a plan that involves the city, it involves taking down other tributes, what are you and Lynsa going to do in there? Huh? Go sight seeing? I plan on doing more then just walking around aimlessly while looking at some buildings."

"Howl's got a point," I hear Lucifer say before I could answer Howl "you got any plans for taking down the other tributes or what?" I didn't have anything, my only plan was to go around the city and see where it takes us. So should I lie and try and get them off my back?

"I have a plan." I lied.

"Really?" Lucifer asked skeptically with his arms crossed across his chest with an amused smile on his face. "What's your plan?" Great, I knew that either him or Howl was going to ask this question, and truthfully, I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't know what to say.

"Go around looking for tributes while also having a bit of fun." I lamely told Lucifer.  
Lucifer exhaled quickly, like he was annoyed, and looked away from me.

"Your plan's fucking lame. Whatever plan Howl has is a hell of a lot better then yours. Howl's going with you Arrowe and Lynsa's staying with us for a bit, we need an archer in our group."

"Isn't it a bad idea for Lynsa to be with Griffin?" I told Lucifer, who seemed to have forgotten that Griffin had punched his district partner so hard that he caused two of her upper left teeth to fly out from her mouth. Right now, they might not be on the best of terms with each other. That, and I still was fighting to not have Howl with me during my city tour.

"As long as she doesn't piss him off she'll be fine," Howl told me like she couldn't care less about Lynsa's situation "now are we going or not?"

I could tell that this was a losing situation, Howl wanted to go into the city to set up her plan, whatever it was, and Lucifer was going to support her every step of the way. I didn't like it, not one bit, but what could I do when he's tougher then me. And even if he wasn't tougher then me, there was Griffin and Howl to worry about in addition to him.

I decided to give up and just go along with this thing. If luck was on my side, I'd be able to get away from Howl and go walk around the city myself.

I looked to Lynsa to ask her if she'd be fine with Griffin and Lucifer.

"I'll be fine." She told me. I nodded my head to her before turning around to head towards the city with my new, and hopefully temporary, companion.

**Day Four. Late morning.**

**District Twelve's Evanlyn "Eve" Scott's POV**

What the hell happened here? That's what I asked myself as I walked through a wrecked part of the jungle. All around me there was some kind of destruction done to the surroundings. There were trees that looked like it had taken something like a cannon ball to the base of the tree, pieces of bark had shattered and fallen to the ground leaving a huge hole nearly six feet up in the tree. And not only that, but it had been done to all the trees in the area. Along with the trees, some of the underbrush looked like it had been violently dug up. Bits of undergrowth were scrapped clean off the ground while leaving a trail of dirt in it's path. Low hanging vines and other items that were suspended in the air looked like they had been either cut down or smashed.

Now those items were littered on the ground like discarded trash.

It looked like a war had taken place in this area. Two or more tributes fighting each other, that's most likely what happened here. What else could it have been. Mutts? That was another thing that it could have been. Maybe someone ran away from mutts, and the mutts had destroyed everything in their path.

I looked at the tree trunks again, and saw that they looked relatively fresh. Even under this rain, the damaged looked fresh, the colour of the tree hadn't changed much colour.

But if there was a fight that happened here, what happened to the tributes that had fought each other? With this much destruction, I'd think that the creators of this mess had at least hurt each other a little.

Were they still alive? They had to be, no cannons had been fired today. Or maybe it was created from last night, when that career from Four had died. Maybe this was where he had died last night. There were traces of blood here, so it was possible that this was where the career had fought and died.

There wasn't a whole lot of blood, so maybe he died by a bludgeoning object, I'd think that was the most likely case considering what happened to the trees.

I scanned the scene one last time before deciding to continue moving through the jungle and looking for more food. The brown fruits were fine, but they were getting harder and harder to find. Thank god that it was raining, it'd tie my hunger off for a while, but I could only substitute solid food for so long. After about a couple days without food I'd start to lose my strength. If I go a week without food I'd start to get hunger pains.

Since I steal things, food, jewelry, anything that I can get before selling them to the black market, my family and I have never had anything more then hunger pains caused by starvation. First it was up to Matt, now it was up to me since Matt could no longer apply for tesserae and only works odd jobs in the district. It's hard work for all of us, but we keep at it to avoid the other hunger sicknesses that are present in the district.

Back home, there are people so thin that they looked more like walking skeletons then humans. There are people so starved that they have skin rashes, dry skin that cracks off big pieces of their flesh, blood shot eyes that seem to poke out of their sockets, and among the worst of them are those that no longer feel hunger or thirst. That's how bad they were. I couldn't imagine being so hungry that you actually didn't feel hungry. But there were people in the district like that.

It made me think of the arena and the situation I was in, would I end up like one of those people if I didn't find food? Would my family end up like that because I couldn't make it out of the arena for that reason?

No, don't think about that, you're going to live Eve, your going to win the hunger games. Yes, I was going to win this game, then my family will never be hungry again. All our struggling to stay alive, all those times that I stole things, all those times that I put myself in danger, all the times that my older brother went out to do odd jobs in the district despite being in a wheelchair, I wasn't going to let all that go to waste.

I'm going to win this game. My family's going to survive. I will survive this game and make it possible for us to live in the worst district in Panem.

**A/N: this should be a good spot to leave off. (I am not satisfied with this chapter.)**

**To camphalfblood: noted.**

**The thing is, even though I really, really, REALLY, want to complete this story (unlike so many other things that I've done) I'm just not satisfied with it. I mean, I like this story, and I love all of you for reading this story that's been in progress for the past nine months. But as I've said, I'm not satisfied with what I've done, I feel as if I could do better on this, in a lot of areas.**

**Don't get me wrong though, I'm putting this story on discontinued yes, but I'm not quitting on it. Hell no, I want to finish something and be proud of the finished product. I, darkwolf127 A.K.A The Awesome Novice Writer (who really isn't that awesome because he's doing this), has quit/given up on more things then he's proud of.**

**I want to continue writing about the characters you guys have sent me. I want to continue to write about twelve year old overconfident Howl, mentally damaged Tharizdun, anti career Eva, tourcherous Alexander, nice guy Aerian, thieving Eve, and the rest of the crew.**

**So guys, I'm not quitting this story on you guys, I'm just planning on doing a re-write of this. There are going to be some chapters that you'll recognize (actually, you'll recognize all of them because you've read them already), but there will be changes made to them.**

**I hope to make the story better in ways that this story failed with. I keep on seeing things that could be made better every time I re-read my own work. Wither I'll be able to make it better I don't know. I'm going to try though.**

**This story is not abandoned, though it will take time, a lot of time maybe. And I won't be able to update quickly because I'll be continuing my schooling starting in very early May.**

**As I said a couple lines up, this story is not abandoned, so because of that, I will not tell you what I had planned for the upcoming chapters due to spoiler alerts.**

**I am sorry to all of you if you even in the slightest thought that I was going to finish this story, because I thought I was going to as well (until I re-read my own stuff several times.) You gave me your tributes, I got them a third of the way (give or take) towards victory (whoever's left,) and then this happens.**

**You guys gave me a chance when you sent in your tribute forms, I am not going to let you guys down.**

**I give special thanks to Fiddlegirl, skyflower51, MaxAlbina, and MyDarkTribute for being there since the first chapter.**

**I give another special thanks to The Moonlight Sonata. Even though you weren't here too often, you always gave the best reviews.**

**I'd also like to thank popcorn-codes, CluelessWithTheClovers,**

**Courtney DiLaurentis, clovesshinyknife, CalliLily, Hublub, KnockingBells, and the guests who reviewed.**

**And last but not least, everyone who took the time out of their lives to read this.**

**From: The (Not So) Awesome Novice Writer (That Hopes to Be Awesome One Day).**

**P'S: I know what some of you are thinking, "just look at his profile and you'll see what a bastard liar he is." I'm trying to break the habit.**


End file.
